


Ropeburn

by catisacat



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Rival Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-31 11:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6468649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catisacat/pseuds/catisacat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Athena was beginning to wonder why all her stories seem to start with pretty women leaving her tied up.</p><p>Although, all things considered, there are probably worse fates than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Three, three Borderlands fanfics going at once! Ah, ah, ah!
> 
> This time for the rarepair nobody but me and like two other people likes.
> 
> But I am here to preach the good word of Athenisha to the people.

The rope cut into Athena’s wrists as she squirmed futilely against its grasp. She’d long lost track of how long she’d been alone in this room, lying uncomfortably on her side with her arms jerked painfully behind her back.

She thought back on the events leading up to this. She was beginning to wonder why all her stories seem to start with pretty women leaving her tied up.

Although, all things considered, there are probably worse fates than that.

\----------

Athena thought back to the beginning.

She had been uneasy as she approached the rocket ship, flanked by the assortment of borderline strangers. The WEIRD assortment of borderline strangers.

The robot had shown up first. Small, yellow, annoying. He'd rolled around her, dancing and testing her patience. She didn't exactly like that this was the first peer she'd been greeted with. Claptrap. Augh.

It improved from there though, at least by her weird standards. Wilhelm. The large cyborg came to stand by her. He offered a curt introduction which she returned with a nod before they crossed their arms stared into the distance. Significant improvement. She liked this one.

Then another loud entrance. Two at once. The tall woman in a fur coat was berating what appeared to be their new boss. She had wrangled the man into carrying her luggage but the handbag on the ground said he wasn't doing that job terribly well though.

The woman approached first, holding out her hand at a weird angle and announcing herself as “Aurelia.” Athena stared at it baffled until it dawned on her that the woman wanted her to kiss it. Like royalty. Completely dumbstruck she took it, deciding to just bow slightly instead. Aurelia seemed to accept that, stepping back to allow their “boss" to dump her luggage into the ship.

Of course, she knew it wasn't Jack. Not really. He was the only one she or any of the others had been briefed on, mainly due to the weirdness of the situation. A body double. He tried to puff up with false bravado as he proudly introduced himself as “Jack.” The others ignored him but Athena politely accepted his extended hand. She had a feeling the warm, friendly handshake he gave her would have been out of character for the real deal.

The last really grabbed her attention though. Even though the others almost didn’t seem to notice her as she lurked in behind them.

Athena didn’t think the thin woman looked like much of a warrior at first glance but the plethora of scars crisscrossing her exposed skin said otherwise. Not to mention the fire that seemed to burn behind her yellow eyes.

She made the gladiator uncomfortable. She knew far too well that the ones who looked less intimidating always seemed to turn out to be the most dangerous. The other woman was here for a reason and she sure as hell didn’t want to find out firsthand what her deal was.

Being direct and fairly polite has never really failed Athena in the past and she was hoping it wouldn’t fail her now as she walked over and extended a hand.

“Athena, ex-Crimson Lance assassin.”

For a half a second it almost looked like the shady woman was going to laugh as the edges of her mouth curled dangerously upwards.

She didn’t, although her Cheshire smile stayed put.

Athena’s hand went ignored as the woman instead tipped her hat with a wink, “Nisha Kadam. I’m the bandit who kills bandits.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the present Athena has a raging headache as fighting breaks out around where she's being held.
> 
> \---
> 
> In the past the gang gets jostled around a little too much as they get their first views of Helios as well as Elpis.

Athena cringed.

It had been hours and the gunfire outside the building still hadn’t let up.

The sharp bang of each bullet left a delicately engraved mark on her mind, letting her throbbing headache leak through the cracks.

She gave the ropes around her wrists another tug, itching to be out there fighting too. Even if just to end the infinite pandemonium.

Another bang, another throb.

\---

Flashing red lights. Always the sign of something good happening.

Athena didn’t even have time to look around before she felt something heavy and metal bang into her thighs.

She couldn’t honestly say she was fond of the little robot but she still leaned forward and carefully hugged his chassis. Clamp hands grabbing onto her clothes communicated his thankfully silent appreciation.

A second later she felt another arm wrap around her. This one human and muscular though, trapping her in an awkward side hug. She allowed it, considering how traumatised Not-Jack looked as his mismatched eyes stared into the distance with clear and utter regret.

Helios loomed closer, the other Vault Hunters followed suit as they gathered around where Athena stood. She felt some weird sense of guilt, like she should have been able to stop this. Like she was responsible for the weird assortment of people gathered around her.

Athena braced herself, feeling the others tense around her as they reached the end.

Right before the collision Athena could have sworn she felt a thin, calloused hand slide into hers.

\---

Not a single one of the Vault Hunters had ever felt worse in their entire lives.

Oh this wasn’t after the crash into the wide halls of Helios. Oh no. That had left them disorientated and battered to be sure. But this was after Jack’s half baked plan to blast them into the surface of Elpis.

Athena lolled her head against the stiff metal of the container, her quiet groan cutting the placid silence like a knife. She forced her neck to comply so she could lift her head and look around. Assess the gravity of the situation.

By the mercy of whatever deity was watching over them, Claptrap had been flung away from his softer, fleshier companions. Like herself, his optic was slowly surveying the room as he muttered to himself. She hoped the fall hadn’t knocked anything loose in him.

Everyone else remained still, ears ringing and muscles aching. They didn’t even want to think about the unbelievable shitshow they were about to face. Stuck on the moon with no oxygen and potentially no way to rectify that.

Had she been conscious, Nisha would have cracked a joke about being kinda into that.

Athena snapped to attention at that thought, realizing Nisha was limply draped across her legs. Not moving. A panicked hand found the woman’s neck and thankfully a pulse as well.

As her thin chest slowly rose and fell she looked around to verify that everyone was, in fact, alive.

A quick sweep told her yes. Aurelia’s eyes were glazed over but lazily drifted over to the gladiator’s in recognition. “Jack” was making an awkward, stumbling attempt to sit up that wasn’t quite working. Claptrap was awake now too and failing to help him in that endeavor.

Wilhelm wasn’t moving at all but as she called his name he made a half hearted thumbs up.

Right after she said that another voice chirped up from outside the container.

\---

The sudden rush of escaping oxygen brought them their first look at their perky but scruffy savior.

Had the situation been calmer Athena would have taken a silent, complete unacknowledged second to appreciate her cuteness. However, given the dire circumstances, she could not.

“Jack” jumped to his feet, first one to chase after their savior. Claptrap rolled quickly on his heels. Wilhelm helped up the groggy Aurelia with surprising gentleness, letting go to let the irate woman stumble along behind him.

In the low gravity Athena’d almost managed to forget about Nisha’s unconscious body sprawled across her legs. She was still out cold even as her body reacted to the harsh change in atmosphere, gasping for air she wasn’t going to find.

Nisha had already proven herself an abrasive person by this point. Between the harsh teasing of the terrified Not-Jack on the rocket ride up and the obnoxious devil-may-care attitude once they made it into Helios she’d made her disposition evident. Athena held no fondness in her heart for the bullying, violent woman. Even as she looked down at her limp form she felt nothing but contempt.

On all sides Athena wasn’t about to pretend she liked Nisha but she didn’t hesitate even a second as she slid her muscular arms underneath the woman and raced after the others.

\---

Bright yellow eyes had sparked to life halfway to the hideout. Before Athena could even look down, surprisingly strong hands were clawing into her back as Nisha began to panic.

Not wanting to waste precious oxygen to try and explain she just gripped her tighter and tried to run faster. She silently cursed the moon’s low gravity slowing her down as Nisha curled closer around her, iron grip twisting harder and harder into the back of Athena’s shirt.

“I’m Janey Springs, junk dea-” Janey started as those two barreled in. She cut herself short in disappointment as the beautiful warrior didn’t even give her a second glance. Athena was more concerned with unceremoniously dumping Nisha on the table.

Nisha groaned as her back hit the hard table, arching upwards to try and escape it, “Jeez you sure know how to treat a lady like a princess, don’tcha?”

“You’re alive, that’s enough,” Athena muttered as she gruffly started jerking her around to inspect for serious injury before raising a finger and instructing, “Follow it with your eyes.”

She just laughed and let her head roll against the table before resting on its side, “Wow, didn’t know you were into rough medical roleplay. Maybe wait until we’re alone, though. Unless you’re also into an audience. I can dig it.”

At that, Athena looked up red-faced as she realized the other Vault Hunters had gathered around. Janey, as well. There were varying degrees of amusement on their faces from watching her fret over their fallen comrade.

Janey continued to look a bit disappointed but she tried to tamp it down with more optimistic cheeriness, “Uhm, well, it looks like your girlfriend’s going to be just fine. Win, win, yeah?”

Nisha erupted into laughter as Athena tripped over herself to deny it, “Not! My girlfriend. Definitely not my girlfriend. At all.”

“Mmm why deny our love, my little skag pup?” Nisha countered as her bony hand found Athena’s muscular ass and gave it an appreciative squeeze. Maybe a little more genuinely affectionate than she intended but, hey, whatever.

Athena jolted forward at that as Nisha’s cackle joined the chorus of laughter of the other Vault Hunters, now joined by Janey who seemed a bit more optimistic now.

“I’ve got a bed upstairs if you want to go somewhere a bit more… comfortable?” Janey offered as she rested a hand on Nisha’s shoulder.

Nisha nodded, sitting up and about to slide herself off the table before strong hands stopped her. She let out a noise of confusion as she found herself hoisted up into Athena’s arms again.

“Slow down there, cowgirl, I can walk now,” Nisha said, trying to make a case for her independence as she futilely attempted to squirm out of her arms.

Athena only tightened her grip, “I won’t take chances with our safety.”

At that she firmly started marching upstairs, regardless of the fact she wasn’t entirely sure where the aforementioned bed was. Janey bounced after her to rectify that and, if she was being honest, to maybe get a moment alone with the pretty gladiator.

\---

Aurelia’s eye traced them until they disappeared from sight with a mischievous gleam.

The second she figured they were out of earshot she dug into her coat’s inner pocket and whipped out a thick piece of paper and a pen, “Alright, gather around lads. Who here is a betting man?”

‘Jack’ looked taken aback, “What?”

“Oh isn’t it obvious, darling? Three women, weird tension, something’s gonna give. We’re going to bet on who.”

He watched as she wrote ‘betting pool’ on the top of the scrolls with gorgeous looping cursive as he stuttered out another awkward, “What?”

More elegant script as she wrote her own name over Athena and Nisha’s looped together, “My bet’s on our own two. Athena and Nisha. Nothing lights the spark of romance like the fires of hatred.”

“Are you… are you serious?” Jack started, pointing up towards the unsuspecting women, “Nisha’s a total psycho and Janey’s so… so nice and you know, probably not a murdering asshole. Maybe but, I ‘unno, probably not?”

“Should I pen you under ‘Athena and Janey’ then?” she said, letting the pen hover as she waited with the same impish look brightening her face.

He hesitated from a moment before deciding, fuck it, my life can’t get any worse, “Alright, sign me up. She’ll go with Janey. She’s nice, probably, and not a mass murderer. Probably.”

“And for you, my dear Wilhe-”

“Threesome,” he said, cutting her off and pointing at the scroll.

She laughed raucously, “Oh ho ho! I love it! You are underappreciated in your time.”

“I am.”

“And for you, Claptrap? Do you… even have money to bet?” she said, addressing the tiny robot who just seemed to be happy to be included.

“I’m with Wilhelm, the more the merrier!” he squawked.

Before he could continue to prattle on Aurelia finished writing and tucked the list away in her coat, “Alright then, the game is afoot! Good luck. You’ll need it.”

She deftly skirted around them, heading towards the stairs as her hips swung.

“What? Where are you going?” Jack said, stepping forward to follow her.

A perfectly manicured finger jabbing into the middle of his forehead stopped him, a jolt of sharp pain as she answered, “Why, to be among the other women of course.

He jumped back with a yelp, “Hey! Watch the face. The recently-massively-operated-on and in-constant-pain face. And you can’t do that!”

“Why not?” she said, looking like the diamond cat that ate the golden canary.

“That’s- That’s cheating! You’re going to influence her!”

“Mmm, yes, well, we didn’t say anything about that did we? Never said we couldn’t. And girls always listen to girls, you know. Upper hand for the upper class. Ta-ta, you losers!” she said as she quickly bounded up the stairs to join the others with a vicious wink right before disappearing from sight.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the present Athena gets a little too worked up about fighting.
> 
> \---
> 
> In the past... well honestly, Athena still gets a little too worked up about fighting but Nisha's there to capitalize on it.

As her leg cramped painfully against the barely carpeted wooden floor Athena managed to crane her neck and get a look out the slightly parted curtains.

Blood splattered across the glass, a beautiful stark red against the cloudy grey sky.

She wanted to be out there more than ever.

No one wants to acknowledge they’re a hyper violent, trigger happy, mass murderer. Well, except maybe Nisha. And Jack. and Wilhelm. Also kind of Aurelia. God, she needed to pick better associates. At least Timothy is normal.

But right now? She didn’t care about that. Giving in to bloodlust sounded pretty nice. She’d kill to be back to back with Nisha, mowing down wave after wave of bandits, feeling the other woman press up against her as gunshots rattled them, bullet casings clattering across the ground, faster and faster until-

Athena suddenly became acutely aware of how uncomfortably hot and restricting her armor was.

\----------

Janey felt her chance to get Athena alone slip away as a quick clattering of sharp footsteps announced Aurelia’s arrival. She was unaware that that was exactly what the baroness intended as she felt a ice cold hand grip her shoulder.

“And how’s our little crackshot doing?” Aurelia cooed, sickly sweet and plastic as a Barbie doll.

Nisha just gagged at her, “I’m fine. I’ll be more fine when truckasaurus here stops shoving me on the bed. So forward.”

“You need to rest,” Athena interjected, “It’s your fault you keep trying to get up.”

Aurelia’s eyes brightened as her grip on Janey’s shoulder tightened and she started piloting her towards the stairs, “Well then, darling, you should stay here and make sure she doesn’t get up. I’ll take Miss Springs here and get out of your ha-”

She was cut short as she bumped into the surprisingly sturdy Not-Jack glaring up at her.

He faltered immediately under her own perfected scowl though, immediately dropping all bravado as he meekly called out to Nisha, “Hey, uh, you okay?”

“I would be if someone would stop shoving me down on this shitty little cot,” Nisha hissed as another attempt to sit up was thwarted by Athena’s firm hand pushing her back down, “Seriously, stop that, oh my god.”

“Stop trying to get up, I’ll stop pushing,” Athena stated calmly, crossing her arms and attempting to stare Nisha down. It sort of worked.

“Fine, fine, I’ll freaking stay down, jeez,” she muttered, settling back into the cot before glaring up at her stalwart captor, “The next time I’m getting shoved on a bed someone’s clothes better be coming off because that is the only time anyone is allowed to manhandle me.”

Speaking of manhandling, Jack yelped at an icy hand grabbing his shoulder. He found himself trapped parallel to Janey as Aurelia marched them downstairs, “We’ll leave you to that then, come on you two, let’s discuss business elsewhere.”

Janey managed to shoot one more sad look at the gladiator sitting on the edge of the bed, talking to the agitated gunslinger, before she disappeared out of sight.

Seeing the others leave Nisha actually did relax considerably, squirming to find a comfortable position on the threadbare cot as her hat started shoving itself over her eyes. She did keep protesting though, “You know I’ve been through things ten times worse than that right? Knock on the head then can’t breathe for a little while is nothing.”

“You were unconscious,” Athena said, barely paying her any mind as she gently removed the cowgirl hat from crushing radius.

“S’mine,” Nisha weakly protested, hand batted away immediately.

“You’ll get it back after you sleep,” Athena replied as she placed it on her own head before chancing a small tease, “Unless I look too good in it.”

“It clashes with your hair,” she jabbed back before deciding to end on a positive note, “We’ll get you a black one sometime, okay? Twinsies?”

“Okay, you don’t seem like a ‘twinsies’ type of girl I think it’s time for you to sleep,” Athena said before pushing herself up from the cot. Nisha wouldn’t admit it for the life of her but a nap honestly sounded great right now.

She mumbled something in agreement before rolling onto her side, eyes half lidded already. They bounced back open as she came to the realization that Athena was actually, holy shit, tucking her in. Like a kid. Well, a normal kid, she hadn’t exactly gotten a bedtime story and a kiss on the head when she was little.

It was quietly allowed but she was pointedly avoiding eye contact as the blanket was pushed in around her, only mumbling “Watch the hands.”

“You grabbed my ass less than ten minutes ago,” Athena replied as she continued.

“Yeah but that was to be funny. Business, not pleasure.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Nisha considered starting up an argument at that but just shrugged passively as Athena finished. As she started finally, actually drifting off she felt her weight settle at the end of the bed, seeing her lean against the wall from the corner of one of her bright yellow eyes.

A half baked quip about watching her sleep died on her lips as sleep finally found her.

\---

The number one thing Nisha hated about being on the moon was the fact she could never tell how much time has passed without Pandora’s sun harshly beating down on her.

She woke up alone but could hear Athena’s voice among the others downstairs.

Wrapping the blanket around her like a queen she descended down the stairs, greeting the others with a groggy, “What’re you losers up to?”

“Good morning, sleeping beauty, ready to kill some ruffians?” Aurelia brightly quipped, already shoving sniper ammo into a stylish bag with a bright glint in her eye.

“Yeah if fuckin’ Annie Wilkes here will let me,” she said, hand emerging from the blanket to point accusingly at Athena. She only rolled her eyes in response and a sarcastic nod. Nisha perked up at that, “Then hell yeah, let’s get killin’. And, I’m not being picky here, but who exactly are we killing?”

“A man named Deadlift, right asshole,” Janey chirped up, absolutely hovering around Athena like a blonde little hummingbird as she spoke, “You kill him for me, I’ll get you into Concordia!”

Nisha was distracted though because, speaking of Athena, my hat, mine.

In one fluid motion Nisha shed her blankety cocoon, retrieved her hat and wedged herself between the two lesbians, “Alright, good enough for me, so where is this Soon-to-be-Deadlift guy at?”

\---

Wow, what a pompous, gaudy sign.

“How gauche,” Aurelia muttered as it glowed down at them. Apparently this ‘Deadlift’ guy was a bit of showsman, especially considering what little they could see of his fortress in the distance.

The baroness started walking towards the looming building in her slow, deliberate way with the boys obediently following her like slightly murderous ducklings. Hell, they were all even yellow. Granted, Not-Jack still was eyeing her a little warily but it wasn’t deterring him from falling in line behind her.

“Ohhh I’m gonna love killin’ this one,” Nisha said, stretching like an overgrown cat, much less concerned about following Aurelia like a well-behaved child.

Athena shot her a judgemental glance as she nearly bounced on her heels, pistols jumping against her thighs like excited puppies. It took the woman a second to realize she was being scrutinized but when she did her bright yellow eyes shot up as a smile crossed her face.

“What? Oh come on, I’ve seen you fight. You love it. Absolutely love it. Iffin I’m gonna be a bit complimentary, you’re pretty damn good at it too,” she said, nudging a bony elbow into Athena’s side.

She moved away instinctively but was quickly followed as the gunslinger put an arm around her shoulders. She scoffed, “I’m not a total psycho, Nisha.”

“Duh, I’ve killed a lot of those. You’re a lot better at getting things dead than them. All precision and passion instead of flailing and rage,” she said, starting to slowly drag Athena along as they started to meander after their colleagues.

Nisha was met with a stony silence from the warrior but the hand tightly clutching her shield gave away her agitation.

“Don’t be that way, kiddo,” she said, completely undaunted, “We both know in five minutes you’re gonna be bashing skulls with that thing with a smile plastered on your face. And you’re not exactly Captain Chuckles, hell, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile out of combat.”

“I smile plenty,” she replied, her now gritted teeth looking like a mockery of the act.

Nisha just laughed, “No, you don’t. You really don’t.”

\---

In some ways both of them were wrong and both of them were right.

Athena smiled, oh she sure did smile, but Nisha was right, it was usually when her shield bashed into a skull or her sword slashed off a limb.

She kept a bright yellow eye on the gladiator as they fought towards Deadlift.

It was such a brilliant contrast to her normal stature to watch her in combat. From cold, distance, aloof to fiery hot, up close and personal, completely wrapped up in the moment. It was nearly hypnotic to watch the bright flashes of red and black find their target, destroy it, rip it to bloody shreds then move on to the next target with pinpoint accuracy.

A few of Nisha’s own shots went a little awry as she surveyed the assassin’s progress.

Not that it mattered, within no time Deadlift’s crew was lying around them, disgusting scraps of scav scattered around them, a challenge completely unworthy of being completed by such skilled fighters.

It wasn’t long before the group found themselves standing at the front of the inner sanctum of his lair as he gave some dramatic speech and shot an electric current through some of the layers of that jump pad ridden craphole.

Of course, her rapt attention while watching Athena fight hadn’t gone without the notice of the betting parties.

And believe me, Aurelia is in it to win it and damned if she wasn’t going to ensure that Nisha got a finale out of Athena that deserves an encore in a more private location. Or, to put it in layman’s terms, that woman is killing Deadlift herself one way or another if Lady Aurelia Hammerlock the First has anything to say about it.

Unsurprisingly Athena rushed in first, Nisha hot on her heels as they launched towards Deadlift’s general vicinity.

It didn’t go without notice why Aurelia awkwardly stalled the others as her long, powerful limbs shot out as she gave a poor excuse to not rush in as well, “Wait! The floor’s electrocuted. Perhaps we should watch for a pattern first?”

Truly a lame response but it at least caused the boys a second of pause to appreciate how absolutely rubbish it was.

Wilhelm just gave her a stony look before calmly walking past her. He seemed completely unphased as said electricity crackled up his leg before he arched into the sky towards the battle. Fortunately for Aurelia’s machinations, midair combat isn’t his specialty.

Jack however stuck around, glaring at her, “I’m not stupid.”

“Well, you’re certainly a good actor then,” she quipped, watching Athena and Nisha soar gracefully through the air as the bullets flew around them. Their own kept landing as Deadlift screamed in pain. Thankfully for Aurelia, Wilhelm’s bulky, tank-like fighting style was seriously bogging him down even as his drones zipped around with ease.

“You’re a cheater,” he growled accusingly at her before hesitantly looking up at the warring parties.

“Once again, never said we couldn’t interfere, darling, and you’re more than free to step on that, get up there, and take fate into your own hands,” she said as a perfectly practiced smile graced her features, gesturing to the overpowered launch pad.

He hesitated, looking back and forth for a bit before remembering exactly how much money they’d agreed on. A second later he was flying towards the fight, his SMG firing wildly in vaguely the right direction, screaming his lungs out as the ground got further and further away.

Aurelia smiled serenely as she stepped on the pad to join the fray, if only to be a distraction.

\---

Despite the panicked best efforts of Not-Jack and the normal, aggressive nature of Wilhelm the women were just plain more agile than them. Granted, Aurelia was using those skills to slow down the boys but she was quicker nonetheless.

Having already shoved Nisha’s words out of her mind Athena was smiling widely, only increasing as her shield went sailing and cracked Deadlift’s helmet with a loud, satisfying crunch. The barrage of bullets she lodged into his chest while he was distracted were just the cherry on top of that cake.

Nisha was constantly on Athena’s tail, moving like her shadow. It served a dual purpose; protection from the shield and a perfect vantage point to watch the tank of a woman tear this man to shreds. Not to mention a good view of Athena’s assets as she shot into the sky ahead of her.

However, Athena wasn’t paying Nisha any mind, even as pistol bullets whizzed by her head. She was focused exclusively on making sure this man was riddled with as many holes as possible in the smallest amount of time imaginable.

It wasn’t long before he stumbled on his own stupid jump pad, clumsily and unguardedly flying backwards.

Athena didn’t waste a moment, flying after him with her sword at the ready and a glint in her eye. With a sickeningly wet sound it found it’s target as it stabbed clean through Deadlift in midair, sending a large shower of blood down over his little stadium. A horrified noise from below indicated a certain body double had chosen a poor place to rest from the nightmare of being chucked around like a tennis ball hundreds of feet in the air.

Paying the traumatised man no mind she took the skewered body with her as she landed, pinning him against a wall before ripping it back out. Another burst of blood stained her already red outfit and left a masterful arc as she slung it back before allowing it to deconstruct in her hand.

She didn’t even notice the other woman land silently behind her, creeping up behind her. It wasn’t until Nisha’s lips were almost touching Athena’s ear as she whispered did she realize she wasn’t alone anymore.

“Told you you love it,” she cooed as her hand ran itself along the boxy edges of Aspis.

Athena quickly tried to hide the sinister, blood splattered smile as her head turned just enough to see Nisha’s own twisted grin.

But she knew Nisha had seen it all already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so going to end up my longest fic yet, oh my god. So much denial. So much violence mixed with sexuality. So much of the story to still write.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the present Athena is reminded of how weird it is for her to be alone.
> 
> \---
> 
> In the past, Athena and Nisha get split up from the rest of the group.

As time passed Athena began making a list and checking it twice of all the reasons why she hated this situation.

Frankly, the reasons were innumerable but a weird one stood out: she hasn’t been alone like this since her days as a mercenary.

Every day since that day she took the contract from that damned low-ranking Hyperion jackass she’s been surrounded by… people. She figured some would call them “friends” but something inside her refused to let her acknowledge her affection for the weird band of people she’d been crammed against by fate.

Jack’s idiot brigade (and yes, she was including herself) had been the first ring of people. Timothy, Aurelia, Wilhelm, Claptrap… Nisha. Janey, somewhat.

Then that old man hired her to take care of his adoptive daughters which had led to another slew of people to be around. Fiona, Sasha, Rhys, Vaughn and their little robot friends.

After that? Living in Sanctuary was a revolving door of Vault Hunters treating you like they’ve known you their entire life. Considering how short their lives tend to get cut they must just want every second to count.

There had been only one break in being constantly surrounded by large groups of people, when it was just her and one other person. Lost and alone.

Athena tried not to think about it, let alone with any degree of fondness.

She failed.

\----------

It should have just been a short, uneventful buggy ride back to Janey but Elpis and fate had different plans.

Also a bigass Shuggurath.

“Oh my god, you drive like my dead Grandma!” Nisha shouted down at Jack as he slowly circled the behemoth creature with far too much care and concern.

Nisha was uncomfortably crushed up next to Athena in the gunner seat as she whirled around the rocket launcher with almost gleeful abandon. She wasn’t sure if she was appreciative or found it annoying when one of the other woman’s strong hands would grab it and roughly adjust her aim.

In the end, the missiles were lodging themselves in the dying monster and that was all that matters. Unfortunately, it also mattered that while they were dealing with the first floating monster, a second one was creeping up on them.

A long, thick tentacle grabbed the back of their car, bring them to a jolting stop that sent them flying out of the vehicle. Most of them, at least. Not-Jack was left clinging to the steering wheel for dear life and frankly, that was leaving him with nothing but regrets as it rolled over him.

Mercifully, Wilhelm landed on his feet and was fucking pissed as hell.

A few well aimed shots from his rocket launcher and the second Shuggurath soon fell.

He laughed in triumph, punching a fist in the air, as he promptly forgot about everyone else.

The other Vault Hunters were scattered, Aurelia pushing herself up from a nearby ditch while halfway across the map Claptrap lay trapped upside down. Jack crawled out from under the wreckage of the car, only mildly scratched up despite how traumatised he looked.

He was the first to notice the fact Athena and Nisha were nowhere to be seen as well as the first to figure out why.

The other three were alerted to the two women’s plight as Jack swore loudly, running to the edge of the cliffside and looking down.

Athena’s arm was crushing Nisha’s midsection but the cowgirl was definitely not complaining as she clung to the gladiator like a terrified baby koala. They hung about thirty feet off the edge, unharmed but with no way to ascend. Nisha didn’t even try to look unimpressed as Athena started pulling them one-handedly onto the ledge they were dangling from.

When the other Vault Hunters gathered around the edge they realized exactly how fucked the situation was. Stable, but fucked nonetheless.

The cliffside was littered with these ledges, easily allowing the women a path down but not a path up. Athena still clung to Nisha as she yelled up to the others, “Go get Janey! She knows the area, maybe there’s a way back up!”

By the time the woman’s scarred face joined the others in gawking down at them the two women had moved to sit awkwardly on the small ledge, “Oh no, that’s… uhm, well, it could be worse! Not in the obvious ‘you’re dead’ way, I mean. Just in the nothing-dangerous-down-there way and the you-can-get-back-up way! If you two just drop down and started walking for just about a day or two you’ll loop around and come up right about here. Can’t miss it, just a nip around the canyon to your right then follow the path up the cliffside.”

They caught more than a few swears as they watched Athena pick up an irritated Nisha, throw her over her shoulder and King Kong her way down from ledge to ledge with her.

Once the women disappeared from sight Janey awkwardly turned to the remaining Vault Hunters, “Uhm, sleepover? Yay?”

Aside from Wilhelm the other humans seemed fairly okay with that concept, more than willing to ignore their boss’s plight up on Helios. But as an overly excited yellow robot rolled over, absolutely delighted at that idea that okayness died en route.

\---

Down at the bottom of the cliff Nisha finally struggled her way to freedom from Athena’s grasp, hissing at her in seething rage, “Wow, how did you know I love being manhandled down a mountain? You shouldn’t have. And I really mean that. You. Shouldn’t. Have.”

“I didn’t want to risk us being further split up,” she replied, not even bothering to look back as she headed the way Janey had instructed.

Nisha stayed put, making sarcastic hand gestures, “Oh yeah there’s a whole lot of different places I could have ended up. There is definitely not only one way gravity goes. Totally wouldn’t have ended up in the same damn place.”

“You’re my responsibility.”

“You are aware I’m an adult right? Got my big girl panties on and everything.”

Athena bit back a response she deemed too filthy as she stomped back and tried to grab Nisha’s wrist. They were burning… well, there was no daylight. Starlight? Okay, maybe it’s perpetually night here but they still had to get going.

Nisha jerked it away and danced back a little. She wasn’t a helpless waif but she also had way too much first hand experience in the fact Athena could easily overpower her. She wasn’t exactly crazy about the idea of being dragged all the way back to the others like a misbehaving child.

Athena sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose harshly, “Fine. I’m sorry, okay? Let’s just… get going, alright?”

Nisha regarded her suspiciously, used to more of a struggle to get people to respect her. Usually Pandorans don’t understand anything but the back of her hand or the crack of her whip. Looking down she noticed the gladiator’s hand was still out, although turned upwards as if expecting her to grab it.

“Are you… serious?” she cackled, “We’re not gonna walk around holding hands like a couple’a toddlers. I reiterate: I’m an adult. You are too.”

“Whatever, let's get going,” she muttered, retracting her hand and starting to walk again. Nisha rolled her eyes but padded along after the woman nonetheless. They could argue on the go. Nothing they could gain by making fun of each other at the bottom of a ravine.

They walked in silence for a while, nothing but the sound of clanking armor and rattling guns breaking the tranquil hush of the valley.

The deathly boringness of the landscape wasn’t helping though.

“So… ex-lance assassin. That’s a… that’s unusual?” Nisha stumbled around in the uncomfortable silence. She was used to getting along at least casually, at first, with most people she wasn’t actively trying to kill, “How do you stop being that?”

“By killing each and every living Atlas employee with my bare hands. Okay, maybe not my bare hands. But by killing them all, that’s how.”

This definitely piqued Nisha’s interest as she picked up her pace a little to walk side-by-side with her, “Didn’t think you had it in ya, that’s a hell of a lot of people. Betcha had some real fun with that, any interesting targets there?”

“A target is just a target, they’re all the same once you eliminate them.”

“Ya know, I’d be irritated by that answer if it wasn’t so damn poetic,” Nisha mumbled as the conversation died down again.

They walked in complete silence for nearly twenty minutes after that. It wasn’t an awkward silence but it wasn’t a completely comfortable one either. Partially because an absence of sound on Elpis generally meant something bad was going to happen.

Except nothing was happening and it was starting to bore the shit out of Nisha, “Didja have any friends in the Crimson Lance?”

“Thought I did. Turns out I didn’t.”

More short answers. She groaned, shoving at Athena’s arm, “Come on, you’re killing me here. You ain’t like me, you’ve got that gushy center no matter how hard you try to hide it. You had to have had someone you cared about. I’m bored, storytime, pony up cowgirl.”

She felt Athena freeze up at that, walking quicker to avoid the situation.

Nisha weighed her options. There was clearly a story there, she obviously didn’t want to tell it but damned if the cowgirl didn’t want to hear it. She was always a sucker for tragic backstories.

“When I was little my mom threw things at me constantly but I got pretty good at catching them,” she started, completely unabashed as she spoke of her terrible childhood, “My dad was no help. He did get me a puppy though. Loved that thing. Until one day it got bit by a frenzycrutch. It was fine for a while but one day it just… went off. Tried to tear out my throat. Ended up havin’ to bash it’s head in with a shovel myself.”

A beat of silence passed between the two as Athena tried to puzzle out why Nisha had decided to turn into Captain Overshare before nearly asking, “I’m sorry?”

“That’s my story, your turn.”

“That’s not how it works,” she replied, furrowing her brows.

“I’m reachin’ out here, Athena. Grab it or I’m gonna yank it away and it’s gonna be a long and reaaal awkward walk back to Janey’s garage.”

Athena sighed, irritatedly running a hand through her hair before starting, “I had a sister.”

“Gonna need more than that, cupcake.”

“I’m getting there, hold your horses,” she snipped, ignoring the fact Nisha clearly appreciated her choice of words, “I had a sister who I lost for a long, long time. Made the mistake of telling my superior that once I found her I was going to leave Pandora. He found her himself, then ordered a midnight raid on the place, to kill everyone, heat vision goggles to obscure who. I didn’t figure it out until it was too late. He made me kill my own sister.”

There was a long stretch of silence again, broken by Nisha, “That’s rough, buddy.”

“What a heartfelt sentiment. Thanks, Nisha.”

Nisha burst into raucous laughter that easily dwarfed the quiet snickers Athena was trying so hard to suppress. They only grew and yet became more nervous as a long, thin arm found its way around her shoulders, making their hips bump together as they continued to walk.

“God, how did we end up with such fucked up lives?” Nisha said, mostly to herself before they continued to walked in silence. This time it was a much more comfortable one.

\---

They must have fallen into the most boring canyon in all of Elpis because absolutely nothing attacked them as they slowly meandered along. Occasionally sharing stories and asking each other inane questions as if they were simply walking home from the bar one night.

Eventually they assumed it was probably nightish. Both of the women were incredibly fucked up by the whole “no sun” thing.

Thankfully despite the largely barren landscape there was the occasional abandoned building here and there. Athena pointed out one built into the side of the cliff they were still skirting, “There. High up, hard to sneak up on.”

“Oh yeah, for all the Scavs we’ve encountered, right? All zero of them?”

“Better safe than sorry.”

Nisha had to agree, even though she knew it was probably overkill.

They easily scrambled up there, pulling up the metal ladder behind them before surveying the accommodations. It wasn’t exactly a four star hotel but it was clean and fairly rust free, more than you could say for most buildings in the Elpis’s wide expanses.

The only downside was the single, rickety bed that was crushed against the wall. Enough room for two, but only just enough.

Nisha was unperturbed by this but it quickly made Athena’s heart twist in her chest, a flush of embarrassment making itself evident across her face. However, she wasn’t about to sleep on the nasty floor nor was she going to try to force the other woman to.

She tried to remain neutral as she placed her weapons on a nearby desk, desperately trying to ignore the fact Nisha was much less shameless. She was already down to just the ratty skull shirt and was making short work of pulling off her jeans. Athena nearly exploded as she watched the woman reach under the flimsy top and unhook her bra, pulling it out through the neck hole.

Athena abruptly stared at a bolt in the wall like it was the single most interesting thing on the planet as she removed a few of the outer pieces of her armor. Unfortunately almost every layer of her clothes were technically armor, made of rough fabric to keep her from being torn to shred by bullets and shrapnel.

She tried to play it casual as she turned around and walked towards the bed. Nisha had already started making herself comfortable, completely unfazed by the fact she was wearing only a partially shredded tank top and a pair of black underwear that certainly wasn’t covering much.

“What are you doing?” she asked, looking at Athena like she was an alien or possibly stupid or maybe a hybrid stupid alien.

Athena froze where she was, knee resting on the edge of the mattress. What, did the princess seriously want the whole thing to herself? Because embarrassed or not, she definitely wasn’t about to sleep on the nasty floor. She snipped, “What?”

“Take your armor off, what are you? An idiot?” she said as a hand tugged at the coarse fabric still covering the women nearly head to toe, “That ain’t gonna be comfortable for either of us.”

She managed to freeze up even more, looking at the already half-naked woman like a terrified statue.

“What, does the commando go commando? I’d still take that over getting armor rubbed in my face while I’m trying to sleep.”

“I don- that is none of your business!” Athena managed to strangle out, face as red as the fabric the cowgirl was insisting she remove. She made another move to lie down but was pushed back by the other woman’s foot.

“Don’t be a baby,” Nisha mocked, kneeling on the bed and starting to tug up Athena’s shirt.

That spurred Athena to action, rolling off the bed with an agitated, “Fine! Fine, I’m doing it. Myself. I don’t need help with that.”

She turned away as she tried to remove the fabric as quickly as possible, going immobile again as Nisha gave a sharp wolf whistle and laughed, “Why so fast? Can’t I enjoy the show?”

“Shut up,” Athena said but the faltering tone in her voice lacked the authority she preferred.

Nisha waved a hand at her, bidding her to continue, “Calm down, I’m just teasin’ ya. Can’t help myself, you just make it so easy. But seriously, hurry up, I’m tired of being awake.”

At that Athena quickly removed the armored clothes before approaching the bed again. Nisha rolled her eyes upon seeing exactly how clothed the other woman still was. Her tank top was unshredded, completely covering her all the way to the fairly conservative short-shorts. Shit, this was summer clothes. Nisha’d been half-expecting the tiniest underwear on the planet based on Athena’s reaction.

She lifted the blanket to allow Athena to slide in next to her, rolling over so they laid back-to-back on the beat up mattress.

Athena flicked the light switch next to them off and they were plunged into darkness.

\---

Sleep failed to find Nisha though and she had an inkling based on how tensed up Athena was next to her that she wasn’t alone in this.

She jabbed a pointy elbow into the other woman’s side, “You still up?”

“Unfortunately,” came the barely groggy voice from the other side of the mattress.

“Hey, you ever had a normal sleepover? I ain’t. Wanna pretend we are?”

“That we are what?”

“Havin’ a sleepover,” Nisha said, rolling over so she was talking to Athena’s back, “I’d suggest we braid each other’s hair and paint each other’s nails but neither of us have enough hair for that or anythin’ to paint with. Not even the blood of our enemies, sadly.”

“Or we could, you know, keep trying to sleep,” Athena retorted, trying to ignore the fact the other woman was shaking her a little bit.

“Nah, sleepover time, I can't sleep, you can’t sleep,” Nisha said, trying to remember the events girls always did in those vapid books her mother left lying around.

There was a brief silence in which the gladiator had hoped the other woman had given up.

She had no such luck though as she felt Nisha press up against her back, a long leg thrown haphazardly over her muscular thighs, talking nearly in her ear, “Ohh, I know, we’re supposed to talk about boys. Let’s talk about boys.”

Athena felt one emotion and it was ‘ugh.’

“I don’t want to talk about boys, I want to sle-”

She was cut off as Nisha continued, “Jack’s pretty hot, right? Got that whole chiseled jaw thing going on and those mismatched eyes. Kind of a douche but I’m a little into that. Also maybe the whole he’s-our-boss part isn’t hurting his case. I like a little authority sometimes.”

Athena’s stomach lurched in disgust, mostly due to Nisha’s horrible taste in men, “You know what’s hot? Trying to sleep. Trying to sleep is hot.”

“Oh come on, don’t take it so seriously. I ain’t talkin’ about marrying the guy or nothin’. This is just fantasy anyways. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be down for at least something casual, let the guy bend you over his hoity-toity Hyperion desk and just go at-”

Athena let out a loud noise of visceral disgust as she cut Nisha off. It only made the other woman laugh though. Athena desperately tried to ignore the entirely distracting feeling of the other woman’s breasts bouncing against her back to no avail, face going bright red.

“Alright, alright, you don’t like Jack. Honestly? Probably a good thing. How about Not-Jack? Got the same looks but he’s, augh, a nice guy and everything. If you’re into that.”

Athena honestly wished for a roving band of Scavs to find them right now. That would be preferable to this conversation. Vastly preferable. She awkwardly choked out an answer, mostly because she was being jabbed in the back by a bony finger, “I only like Not-Jack as a friend.”

There was a long awkward silence before Nisha tried one more time, “Wilhelm, then? I don’t know, I’m running out of men we mutually know, cut me a break here.”

Athena let another short silence hang before answering, “You could list a hundred men and I wouldn’t be interested in any of them.”

Nisha was confused for a second before it clunked into place.

“Aurelia, then?” she practically giggled, pressing up closer to Athena to her embarrassment, “You a gold digger? Not that she isn’t pretty anyways. But a turbo mansion just sweetens the deal.”

She decided to humor the now borderline giddy woman, “I respect Aurelia greatly but I’m not really into ice queens. Literal or figurative. She’s both.”

“Fair enough,” Nisha smirked, “How about that Janey chick? She sure seemed to be cozying up to you when I came down after that little nap you forced on me.”

“Janey is nice,” Athena answered curtly.

“Mmm, how nice? Nice enough to take home for a night or two? Spend some time tangled up with each other, hands exploring every inch of her, feeling exactly how far those scars of hers go?” Nisha nearly whispered into Athena’s ear, thin hands tracing along the muscular woman’s side as she imitated Janey’s burn scar pattern along her pale skin. She found her fingertips coursing over actual scars, although from blades and bullets instead of flames.

The fact she was being so forward and handsy with Athena was almost as much of a surprise to Nisha herself as it was to the gladiator but it certainly wasn’t stopping her. She’s nothing if not a hedonist.

However, Athena froze up under the entirely unfamiliar touch from a borderline unfamiliar person but made no move to push the hand away, “You’ve got a dirty mind, you know that?”

“Sure do,” she stated proudly as she let her hand travel over the well-defined muscles of the other woman’s stomach before teasing the tips of her fingers just slightly under the waistband of the black shorts, “Maybe you’re more into that than little goody-two shoeses like Janey?”

She really couldn’t help herself so Athena did it for her, grabbing her hand with surprising gentleness as she moved it to less scandalous parts of her body. Namely letting it rest around her waist as she spoke, “It’s all a moot point, anyways. Part of Atlas training was to hammer out pointless things like that. Attraction. Lust. Love. It all means nothing to me.”

Nisha only laughed at that, taking care to press her chest against the gladiator’s back even more as she nuzzled against the back of her neck, “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

Athena ignored the fact her previous words were being thrown back at her, finally closing her eyes again as she addressed the cowgirl one last time, “Go to sleep, Nisha.”

“Hey, one more thing.”

“What?”

“Wanna have a pillow fight?”

“There’s only one pillow.”

“It’ll be one hell of a fight then,” Nisha replied with another cruel laugh, smiling wide enough that Athena could feel it against her skin.

“We’re going to sleep now.”

This time Nisha opted to listen, letting a surprisingly comfortable silence fall over them as she slowly drifted to sleep. She still clung to Athena though. Soft, warm breaths against the back of her neck keeping Athena from falling asleep for a long, long time.

Eventually they both lost consciousness though, pressed together as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at me, writing vaguely-more-sexual-than-normal things. Like a real adult. Also nearly doubling the length of this fic with a single chapter. But to be fair, this chapter was essentially originally a fanfic on its own before I came up with a longer story arc.
> 
> Also you get a vague sense of timeline in the In The Present section of this. Some vague post-BL2, post-Tales time. That I'm absolutely sure will turn out to make no sense with the real timeline if they ever show it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive in Concordia and Not-Jack decides to take this gambling war into his own massive yaoi hands.

Athena had managed to push herself up onto her knees, giving her the first real look around the room she was trapped in.

It was pretty cluttered, personal mementos scattered around like fallen leaves but frankly the only part she really cared about right now was exactly how comfortable that messy, unmade bed looked.

With considerable difficulty she managed to jerk herself to her feet enough to fall onto the bed’s purple and yellow covers. Yeah she was getting it covered in dirt but, eh, that was a problem for Later Athena.

For now she was just content to lay face down on the soft pillow and groan.

\----------

It was such a relief to take their first steps into Concordia after the small interrogation by the somehow even more obnoxious version of Claptrap gatekeeping the place.

To Not-Jack’s delight Janey had come with them so she could settle into her shop there. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard for him to do a little manipulating of his own. He took the opportunity to disappear while the others dealt with the whole Jack and the Merriff situation. He didn't want to jump around on the roof of the city anyways.

He watched her leave her shop and tried to follow in the most casual and least creepy manner possible. Maybe he could even play it as just happening to run into her. Not easy considering she was walking into the more dodgy part of the city.

However, careful as he tried to be, by the time he caught up to Janey she knew someone was following her. Tension broke as she struck back in a panic, digging an elbow into his gut before pulling back her second hand to punch the pervert right in his stupid-

She had a moment of panic as her fist was easily caught by a massive hand that completely dwarfed hers. Not-Jack looked just as surprised as her about that development. He completely forgot about the slight ache in his stomach as he chirped, “Hey! Maybe I'm getting better at this whole fighting thing.”

There was an awkward moment of silence as they both stared at each other in confusion. Jack briefly forgetting his plans and Janey not knowing them. She was at least relieved it was one of the Vault Hunters, especially the extremely harmless Not-Jack. The fact bears repeating though; she doesn’t like guys.

“Uhm… flattered you chased me down I guess but did you… did you miss the part where I said I wasn't into men?” Janey asked, feeling no longer menaced but slightly annoyed instead. She wasn't a vain woman but she really couldn't imagine why else a guy would be chasing after her.

“Ha ha, ew. No. Yeah, no,” he started before realizing exactly how rude that sounded as her face twisted into a dark glare, “I just- yeah, You're not my type either?”

She just got more confused, “Why are you following me then?”

He decided to try to be sneaky about this but he was far less charismatic than Aurelia, “You just… seemed interested in Athena?”

“I don't see how that's any of your business,” Janey said as her irritation grew as she jumped to even more conclusions, “If you're interested in her why don't you follow her around then?”

“I'm not interested in- look, I'm trying to play matchmaker here and doing a bad job, cut me some slack.”

“And exactly why do you care?”

He struggled for a second before managing to choke out a decently true response, “Because she's the only team member who's been consistently nice to me and the meanest person with us is interested in her and I want to stop that from happening? And you're seem like a good choice?”

It was a weird proposition, yes, but a fairly flattering one. Janey considered it for a second before smiling and answering, “Alright, sounds fine by me. Kinda weird but, yeah, I’m down. What’re you going to do though?”

“I don’t know, back on Eden-5 I’d just say ‘hey, I’ve got a blind date for you’ so probably just do that,” he said, nodding and pointing in vaguely the direction his teammates were. So up. He was pointing up, to Janey’s confusion.

She shrugged it off though, “Alright then, Not-Jack, we have a deal.”

“Great! Awesome, yeah, this’ll work,” he said, already happily tabulating the cash he’d made from the other three in his head.

“But who knows, maybe I’ll win over Athena AND Miss Meaniepants,” Janey joked, “Have a little fun with the both of them.”

Elsewhere Wilhelm sneezed.

Not-Jack ignored that as he grabbed the thin hand she extended, giving her a firm handshake before looking around, “Hey, why ARE you lurking around this dodgy place anyways?”

Janey’s face went red as she jumped at a voice and shoved at Jack until they were hiding behind a pillar, peeking out at the busty woman approaching one of the dodgy shops. As his jaw dropped Janey smiled and nodded enthusiastically as she pointed at her, “Yeah, I know right?”

Not-Jack just nodded slowly as his eyes followed Moxxi.

Holy shit, what a woman.

\---

After a long, cold shower Not-Jack rejoined the rest of the Vault Hunters, wandering into the living quarters of Concordia to find they’d already split up the three rooms.

Everyone had already splintered off except for Aurelia who greeted him with a shit-eating grin, “Ohhh there you are, my dear. Well, you’re a bit too late, we’ve already divided the living quarters. I ever-so-graciously allowed the other ladies to share theirs and, well, I mean, unfortunately we’re ‘bunkies’ as they put it but still. A victory. Besides, now I can mock you from the top bunk whilst you try to sleep. Check and mate, Jackie.”

She showed no signs of faltering when he flashed his own shit-eating grin back at her, “Well, that’s just great Aurelia. Didja guys even wonder where I went?”

A wave of a finely manicured hand in response, “Avoiding conflict we assumed. Concordia is a safe enough place for a grown man, however cowardly, to wander around without much danger. We weren’t concerned.”

“Well, I wasn’t wandering but yeah it was pretty safe, enough to find and talk to a certain Miss Springs at least,” he said, mismatched eyes practically twinkling now as he watched Aurelia grow uncertain for half a second, “Yeah, got her to agree to a blind date. With a certain ex-Lance assassin. Whose name rhymes with… ballerina? Kinda? Okay look there’s not a lot of words that rhyme with Athena. Whatever, point is, if she accepts I win.”

Their conversation had caught a few other people’s interest though, causing Not-Jack to jump at the sudden appearance of Wilhelm, “Nope.”

“Mmm, yes, my dear Wilhelm is correct. The bet was for who would end up together. Saying yes to a date is nothing but a willingness to try. I won't pretend to be delighted if she says yes but it certainly didn't mean you are the victor.”

“That is- fine, whatever, still. Point for Jack towards winning the bet.”

“If she accepts,” Aurelia said, prodding a perfectly manicured nail into the middle of his chest.

“Well, we’re going to find out right now,” he said, carefully pushing her hand away as he walked up to Athena and Nisha’s room and knocked. The others scattered back to their rooms quickly, doors cracked open to listen.

Nisha was the one who answered the door, leaning on its frame, “Whatdya want, Not-Jack?”

“Can I talk to Athena?” he asked, starting to get somewhat weirded out by exactly how easily people could tell he wasn’t the actual Jack.

At that she poked her head out, purple hair slightly mussed in the back from lying down. She looked a bit agitated at having had to get up after jumping all over Concordia chasing after electronic parts. He nudged the door shut after her, cutting off an irritated noise from Nisha.

“Heyyy Athena,” he started, immediately realizing he had no idea how to go about this on this end either.

A hand raised to rub at her temples, “Spit it out, what do you want?”

Balking at that he just spat it out, “How would you feel about going on a date with Janey?”

Blue eyes widened, whatever stupid thing Athena had expected Not-Jack to say this wasn’t it.

“What?” she stumbled out, equal parts baffled by the offer and by the weird way her teammate had been the messenger of it.

“I was just- I just ran into Janey while you guys were all jumping around and we just- just got talking and it came up? So I decided I’d play matchmaker and just- okay look, I’m bad at this even if I’m just being a proxy for someone else, what’dya say to her offer?”

The out-of-place wooden smile nailed onto his face was threatening to fall as Athena continued to look at him like he’d lost his mind and been raving at her mindlessly. After a second she shook her head, slowly crossing her arms, “A big part of my Atlas training was to reject all forms of frivolity. Beauty, love. It means nothing to me. Tell her… thanks but no?”

His plastic face fell, “I… didn’t you try to kill them all? Why still subscribe to their weird dogma?”

“It’s the only way I know how to live,” she glowered at him, “Also none of you business?”

At that she abruptly turned around and slid into her room. A dull thunk when Athena’d cracked open the door indicated Nisha had indeed been listening in. Not-Jack could hear them conversing through the door as he walked away, defeated.

The jeering of his peers coming from the other rooms wasn’t helping, especially since he knew he’d be rooming with his biggest competitor in this.

He pointed at Aurelia who had already taken the top bunk and looked absolutely smug as she practically sang, “Ohhh, Jackie, you know if anyone’s got the determination and the skillset to crack through that it’s Nisha. Not Janey.”

“Bet’s not over, Aurelia, one failure isn’t a death sentence,” he mumbled, wandering into their bathroom to change into his pajamas. His sleep pants were covered with kitties. He braced himself for mocking as he walked back out.

As if on cue she laughed at him, “Oh darling, what are thooose?”

It was going to be a long night.

\---

Back in the girls’ room Nisha rubbed at the sore spot where metal door had met head as she begrudgingly agreed with their wimpy comrade, “He’s right, you know. It’s pretty fuckin’ weird that you still live by their rules.”

Athena shot her a cold glare which Nisha dismissed as she swung herself up onto the top bunk.

The bunk shook slightly as the muscular Athena let herself fall back onto it as well. Nisha didn’t even have to look over the edge to know she was glaring a hole up through the mattress into her own bony spine, “You know I’m right. I usually am.”

“What do you know? I highly doubt you spent any time being brainwashed. Hell, I’d kinda like to see someone try. I’ve always wondered exactly how many shots it takes before it counts as a beheading.”

“Holy shit was that a compliment? An Athena compliment? Warn me next time, I’ll get my ECHO recorder ready.”

Athena scoffed, “Didn’t know my approval meant that much to you.”

“It’s like seeing a fuckin’ Pandoracorn, it’s gotta be worth its weight in diamonds. Or it’s length I guess. By word? I don’t know the exchange rate of Athena-compliments-to-diamonds.”

She rolled her eyes while Nisha cackled at her own joke, “Whatever.”

Regaining her composure, she pushed herself to the edge to look down at Athena, “But seriously, you talk about brainwashing a lot but usually people that have successful been won’t acknowledge it. You’re just using it to keep everyone at arm’s length. You don’t want to deal with it.”

“Wow, Nisha, I didn't realize you had a psychology degree.”

“Don’t need a degree to see the obvious. Just a couple’a eyes and a couple’a ears. Or at least one of each. Bare minimum.”

The last thing she saw before Athena flicked off the lights on her were those bright blue eyes glowering up at her. But damned if Athena didn’t know Nisha was right.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nisha gets Athena to slack off and spend the day alone with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow posts! My laptop's been busted and I just got it fixed so I can actually write on it again.

Why did her life have to be this way? Athena groaned. Trapped in a room, tied up, and left with a raging battle waging around her?

She’d come to warn her. How had it ended up this way? How had anything ended up this way?

Why couldn’t she have had a normal childhood and transitioned into a normal adult? Why had fate chosen to give her a weapon? No, make her a weapon.

Despite herself she still found her body relaxing into the well worn bedspread, trying to pretend she didn’t know what those dark red stains were. They didn’t detract from the comfort though, squishing into the soft mattress.

Maybe things hadn’t been all bad, always. Sometimes things had been nice.

\----------

“Heyyyy girl scout, wanna hang?”

For half a second Athena thought that was a threat.

That thought quickly dissipated as Nisha shoved the ECHO device into Athena’s hand, a cocky purple smile beaming down at her. Even as her finger pressed play she was still uncertain of Nisha’s intent.

A soppy message, a man looking for his love. She quirked an eyebrow at Nisha who was more than happy to explain, “I was thinkin’ the two of us could do this together. Ladies’ night out, you know? ‘Cept we’re ditching Aurelia. Don’t think she’ll object, she’d not exactly someone who likes helping people.”

“Neither are you.”

“Yeah, well, you are. I’m reaching out here, Athena, cut me a break.”

She quickly examined Nisha’s face for signs of deceit. Mirth. Mockery. Anything. She just found those golden eyes blazing back with surprising honesty. Then again, not so surprising. The cowgirl was a lot of negative things but a liar isn’t one of them. Athena carefully questioned her, “Why’re you suddenly interested?”

A scoff, “Well, we’re roomies and gonna be stuck like that for a while, probably, and maybe you’re…”

She trailed off but Athena was hot on said trail, “Well?”

Her answer was barely audible over the mechanical din of Concordia, “Because, you know…”

“No I don’t.”

Agitation. Nisha started gesturing vaguely but vigorously, pistol flailing around like a wild animal, “Just… I mean… like Wilhelm is… and Aurelia isn’t... and don’t get me started on Fake Jack or ugh, even worse, Claptrap…”

A smug smirk started twisting across her face as Athena leaned against the wall behind her, “Oh my god, you think I’m cool.”

There was no vocal answer but the dark glare she got in return told her all she needed to know. Eventually Nisha just jabbed a finger at the recorder, “Look, do you want to help this fucking loser or not?”

Athena briefly contemplated refusing to play along until Nisha admitted it but just nodded, knowing the cowgirl would just leave and that would be that. And spending a day with just her wasn’t the worst way she could spend it. Especially considering most group activities included Claptrap.

“Alright, Miss Kadam, let’s fix this idiot’s problem.”

\---

The rattle of a moon buggy was weirdly soothing to Nisha. It’s something normal, familiar on this weird low gravity hellscape. As much as she liked shooting people’s helmets off and watching them suffocate to death she wasn’t too big of a fan of Elpis. Likes to keep both feet on the ground. Or all four tires.

Elpis may be weird but cars is cars as far as she’s concerned. Even as she rides oddly shotgun, nestled up against Athena and letting the autofire take care of the cannon up top.

The gladiator didn’t know what to make of this, “Is there… a reason why you’re not up there?”

“What’s the matter, girl scout? Don’t like people in your personal space bubble?” Nisha teased over the rumble of the car, rustling up closer to the increasingly flustered woman.

“No. Also, you never pass up a chance to kill.”

“Can’t see too well up there. Too swivelly. Gotta spot the missing moon buggy.”

Athena couldn’t fault that logic. She usually was the one tasked with driving, for obvious reasons. She was the closest this ragtag little group had to a responsible adult. But she’d spent some uncomfortable, motion sickness inducing time up on the buggy’s turret.

“Besides,” Nisha yelled, pulling out one of her guns and hollering as she headshotted some unsuspecting Scav with pinpoint accuracy, “Better accuracy up here!”

She only cackled harder as Athena wrapped an arm around her thin waist and squeezed painfully hard in warning, “Jesus, Nisha, fire that near my goddamn head again and I’ll toss you off this buggy like a roadkill skag corpse.”

“Boy howdy, that’s a little too kinky even for me,” she sneered, sticking the gun back in its holster. Despite how tempting that dead Scav’s friend shaking his fist at her was.

“What? Is a mangled corpse where you draw the li-”

Athena’s question was cut short as they arrived at the twisted, burning wreck.

\---

“It’s bullshit,” Nisha spat, holding the ECHO device, “You ain’t buyin’ this crap are you?”

Myron had just hung up after “beseeching them to search the nearby bandit camp for his love.” Or however the douche bag had put it. As they hiked up the hill towards the unassuming buildings there was nothing but quiet. Not the type that seemed apt to fuck with you unless you fucked with them.

“I know you ain’t stupid,” Nisha muttered as she kicked a rock, “What kinda looney bin whack job records their last moments like that? And there ain’t no screaming of the bandits or anythin’ in the back.”

“Well, could you blame her for wanting to get away from this guy? Hell I’ve known him for all of a couple hours and I wouldn’t exactly be upset if he went hurtling off a cliff.”

“Think we’re gonna find more than just a corpse up there then?”

Athena nodded, “Yuhp. Bet you anything Deirdre’s lurking up there just begging to not be found.”

“I’d bet against you for shits an’ giggles but I don’t like losing.”

She smirked before grabbing Nisha’s hand and stopping her, “What, afraid of a little risk? I mean, what if she’s just as unhinged as him? Waiting for the loving arms of her beloved Myron?”

“What’re you gettin’ at?”

“Come on, we came out to have some fun.”

Nisha stared into the distance for a second before smirking, “Alright then. What are we betting for?”

“We’ll go drinking afterwards, whoever loses pays for the both of us.”

She clapped enthusiastically before spitting in one of her hands and offering it, “Ha! Now that’s bet where everyone wins. Shake on it.”

It hung in the air for a few long seconds before she wiped it off on her pants.

“Alright, fair enough.”

\---

Nisha swore a little as Deirdre stood in front of them, obviously agitated that Myron had managed to send actually competent people to come look for her.

Luckily for her, the two were sympathetic.

“Sure. Sounds like a worthwhile mission.”

“Ugh! I hate guys like that. Count me in.”

Deirdre proposed her plan. Those two kill her evil twin, Maureen, and convince Myron that she was really, truly dead. It included things both the Vault Hunters liked. Violent murder for Nisha and justice for Athena.

As Nisha hopped up next to Athena, she gave her a bit of a smirk, “Don’t forget, you’re buying when we get back to Concordia.”

“Shut up and drive, girl scout.”

Athena complied, relishing the way Nisha grabbed onto her arm to prevent herself from flying off the buggy. Couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t let go as they flew over the surface of Elpis. Fauna popped out to attack but couldn’t catch the speeding women.

Didn’t stop Nisha from whispering things in her ear as they travelled. Dirty jokes about the tentacle monsters. Cracks about their comrades. Making up dumb stories about Scavs they passed.

Feeling her gently bouncing against her side, casually. It felt… normal. Right. She felt some weird measure of guilt at this. How casually she’d come to accept this puppy murdering psychopath as a part of her life. How easy it had been.

“Hey,” Nisha crooned into her ear, close so she could hear her over the rumbling, “What’s with the mug?”

She jerked to attention, realizing she’d been glaring straight forward for a while, “Sorry, just thinking. Got one hell of a case of resting bitch face.”

“What were you thinking about?”

There’s no nice, normal and casual way to say “you.”

Thankfully the rip of another motor coming to life as it screeched out in front of them was a lovely and very welcome distraction.

“That’s her! Maureen!” Deirdre hollered over the ECHO device.

Nisha swore with excitement as she jumped up into the turret seat, “Floor it, kiddo!”

Athena didn’t have to be told twice.

As they took off after Maureen she could feel the adrenaline pumping. If Nisha’s excited yeehaws behind her were any indication the cowgirl was having the time of her life as well.

The rockets behind launching rapidly behind her should have alarmed her more than they did but even as they exploded wildly in front of them they only served to get Athena more worked up. As each one missed the evil twin cursing them out she only got more and more agitated.

“Git ‘em!” Nisha yelled, several loud bangs shaking the car as she kicked at it with her heel in delight.

Some stupid little part of Athena’s brain desperately wanted to impress Nisha in that moment.

She slammed the moon buggy onto a small ramp, just enough to give them enough air to collide roughly into Maureen herself.

There was a blood curdling scream from her and a sickening crunching noise followed by what seemed like silence. Athena and Nisha were both thrown from their car as it flipped over wildly. When the dust settled they were both fine though, minus a few nicks and future bruises here and there.

They had landed head-to-head. Athena felt Nisha reach up and pat at her face, taking the noise of irritation in response as a good answer to if the gladiator was still alive.

The rest of the maudlin tale of martyr Myron played out while they lay there panting, exhausted as the adrenaline quickly wore off. 

After a few seconds Athena pushed herself up to survey the damage.

A disgusting pulp of blood, organs and crushed bones was all that remained of Maureen. Even Nisha let out a little noise of disgust as she crawled over to inspect Athena’s handiwork.

“S’disgusting,” she said, pointing at the mangled corpse, “You think I’m gonna be able to buy you enough booze for you to forget this?”

“I’ve forgotten worse.”

\---

Moxxi was less than thrilled to have the two blood-and-guts splattered women in her bar. But damned if she’d kick them out, especially as Nisha reached into her bra and pulled out a massive wad of cash.

“Look, whatever the most expensive, fanciest shit you got I want. Bring me the biggest bottle you have of it.”

The cowgirl leaned back into the booth contentedly as Athena wiped away some of the blood on her arm with a napkin. At least pretend to be civilized. Moxxi seemed to appreciate that as she came back with a gigantic bottle of god knows what.

“Moon moonshine,” Moxxi said proudly, “Best I’ve got, best there is. As always.”

Nisha smirked as she watched Athena try to politely not stare at the massive knockers as Moxxi set it on the table along with a glass for each of them. It continued even as Moxxi walked away. That slightly terrified thousand yard stare.

Nothing Nisha couldn’t get Athena to drink away. Her concern being partially due to some feeling close to friendship, partially because the stare was kinda freaky. She poured it for her, holding it up, “Bottoms up, we’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

Athena didn’t have to be told twice. She started chugging it like a true champ as Nisha started hooting again, “Atta girl!”

Oh dear god it was like drinking bleach. Athena recoiled as she finished off the glass, shaking her head slowly. She was quickly joined by Nisha pouring herself a glass and downing it in an instant too. It hit the cowgirl like a rock too, taking her by surprise.

“Holy shit, I’ve been drinking since I was like ten…” Nisha mumbled, examining the label on the bottle, “But this shit is already starting to fuck me up.” She laughed as Athena ignored that and poured both of them another glass. Purple lips smirked, “So when you go hard you go hard, do you, party girl?”

Already wandering blue eyes rolled around Athena’s head, “Never really drank before, honestly. Never enough to get actually drunk at least. Figured why not. Remember how you never had a sleepover before? Wanted to do the classics? I’ve never had a girl’s night out, want to do it right.”

The music pounded around them as Nisha took that in, looking content as possible as she took a long drink, “I’m a bad influence on you, ain’t I?”

“A little bit. Probably for a best.”

“Is that another compliment? Look, I ain’t known you for too long but I’m startin’ to think it’s not that common and I’m pretty special,” she smirked, swirling the questionable moonshine before downing some more.

“Don’t let it go to your head,” Athena dismissed as she downed the drink, “I just… haven’t really had friends before this. And you’re the one making the biggest effort to actually know me. Fake Jack does too. We’ve had lunch a few times while you guys do the more… brutal missions. Straight up murder and junk.”

“What? You pretending what we did today wasn’t straight up murder? Because if anything it was a lil’ bit violenter than just murder. Slaughter, really.”

“Shut up,” she snapped as she sipped at her drink.

Nisha fiddled with her own, eyes downcast, “Only Wilhelm really talks to me outside missions. Besides you, obviously. Don’t know why only you two militant types like me. I get why Not-Jack avoids me, he’s a wuss. Aurelia just patted me on the head when I tried to talk to her. Handed me five dollars and told me to get a candy bar. And, I mean, didn’t try to talk to Claptrap. I’ve got my dignity.”

Athena raised an eyebrow curiously along with her glass, “Never took you for someone who gets lonely.”

“Murderin’s better with friends.”

Athena laughed, “You know, normal friends just play board games and I don’t know, go on trips together or something.”

Another drink tossed back by Nisha. It glittered in the rainbow lights, almost beautiful. But the way it shone into Nisha’s golden eyes was definitely gorgeous. Athena knew she was staring somewhere in the back of her mind but she just couldn’t bring herself to care. Even as Nisha noticed.

A quick up and down before Nisha replied, “I ain’t normal and I’ll thank you to remember that.”

Athena’s quiet laugh was barely audible over the booming music which was quickly starting to sound more and more pleasant and inviting. She started bouncing a little to the music despite herself and Nisha was absolutely delighting in that. Maybe she should test exactly how drunk the gladiator really was. Hell, she’d lost track of how many glasses they’d downed.

She pushed herself out of the booth clumsily, immediately realizing that she was much more drunk than she figured. Whatever, horse’s out of the barn.

Clawed hands grabbed at Athena’s muscular ones, trying to pull her up as well, “Come on, let’s dance!”

“I have never danced in my natural life.”

“Welp. Tonight you’re gonna.”

Athena resisted. She was stronger than Nisha and one hell of a lot heavier but the cowgirl had infinitely more energy. Especially fueled by this mystery concoction. Eventually Athena relented and was dragged, stumbling to the dance floor.

God it was the worst imitation of dancing the rest of the bar had ever seen.

\---

Aurelia smirked in the corner, through her barely there disguise. She adjusted the designer scarf wrapped around her head, “Things are looking good for me, Jackson.”

“I’m pretty sure Jack’s full name isn’t Jackson,” Not-Jack griped, holding onto the bottle of all too expensive beer, “But fuck me… when does… what do we count as a victory in this?”

“I’ll give you a fair shake. Let’s say it ends when our mission ends. Whoever Athena ends up with at the end of all this tosh, Nisha or Janey.”

“Or both,” Wilhelm interjected.

Aurelia rolled her eyes, “Or both.”

She flicked her eyes over to the other women as a coy smile slid onto her face, “Although I honestly feel like we can call this now, if you’d like to save your time but not your money.”

Not-Jack wanted to have some smart ass reply to that but he was no real Jack. Instead he just stared at the unaware Nisha and Athena who were stumbling around awkwardly, vaguely in time with the pounding music.

“They dance like drunken bullymongs,” Aurelia scoffed, “But despite this tawdry show, I’ll take it.”

“Nuh-uh, no you won’t, it’s not over,” Not-Jack replied, slamming a fist on the table, “A Lawren- I mean, uh, Jack, doesn’t give up.”

“Well. We’ll see then, will we?”

His confidence quickly wavered as there was a loud clattering as Nisha fell to the ground like a bag of bricks. Officially too drunk to stand, there was an uncharacteristic squeal from Nisha as she was hauled over Athena’s shoulder. Even from their nearly hidden corner of the bar they could hear Nisha loudly protesting that she was sober enough to walk.

Aurelia laughed cruelly, “Well, would you look at that.”

She grabbed at Not-Jack as he bolted up but he easily pulled away. For all her skill as a sniper, Aurelia was no Athena or Wilhelm when it comes to physical strength. He pointed at her, “Nuh-uh, no interfering with my interfering.”

Before she could even begin to protest he was after the two in a flash.

It wasn’t hard for Not-Jack to catch up with the stumbling women as they bumbled their way through Concordia, startling Athena when he grabbed her shoulder. Time to put that acting degree to work, Lawrence. He perfectly feigned concerned, “Hey, is she okay? What happened?”

Even sober Athena would have bought it. Drunk, she didn’t stand a chance. She shook her head a little as she slurred, “We dr... we drank a lil’ too much.”

An understatement, to say the least.

“Here, let me help,” he said, sliding an arm under the barely protesting cowgirl, “She’s tough but she’s human and you’re wobbling around like an injured kraggon. You might drop her on her head.”

Athena nodded, maybe a little more exaggeratedly then intended, “Mmm-hmm.”

Okay, now his fake concern was starting to become real concern. He carefully grabbed the gladiator by the back of her shirt, “Okay, great, you’re a bobblehead, let’s get you two to bed.”

One of them clomping around like a drunk kitten while the other dangled helplessly off his shoulder was quickly making Not-Jack feel like a mother cat. It made him feel much more protective while the jeering and leering from the citizens of Concordia filled the air.

They scattered like cockroaches as he did his best imitation of real Jack’s glare.

Athena struggled to get their room’s door open and he didn’t feel better until they were actually inside. He watched the gladiator stumble quickly towards her bunk and crash onto it with a loud creaking noise. Out cold in a heartbeat.

Nisha, on the other hand (or more accurately, shoulder), was starting to stir. She tried to squirm down to freedom but was carefully kept in place as Not-Jack tried to walk towards the top bunk. She continued fighting though, making vague noises of irritation.

“You’re drunk,” he simply replied, heaving her a bit so she rolled harmlessly onto the threadbare bunk.

He was shocked as she actually giggled at that, head rolling towards him with a smile, “Heya handsome, come here often?”

For a second he felt genuine terror, sputtering, “Your room? No.”

“You should,” she said with a drunken wink that was honestly dangerously close to just being a blink.

He felt a panicked, animal need to bolt until he realized that Nisha wasn’t trying to hit on him, per se, but thought he was a certain someone else. Thank god, he didn’t need that in his life, “I’m not real Jack, Nisha.”

“Oh. Ew.” she mumbled, rolling away from him and facing the opposite wall.

Not-Jack smiled though as he pulled the blankets over the two passed out women. He knew how he could stop this, how he could win this bet. If Nisha really did find real Jack attractive in some fucked up way all he had to do was play wingman for the asshole who’d shanghai’d him into being his body double.

Not something he really wanted to do but if he got Nisha with Jack it’d at least stop her from getting with Athena and render the whole bet a moot point. He knew their boss was interested and Nisha always seemed a little charmed by him. Just have to grow that.

Aurelia questioned him when he swaggered into their shared room, “And why do YOU look so happy, darling? Escorting the two and preventing a… special moment, shall we say, once isn’t going to win you a penny.”

He only shot her a knowing smile and a sarcastic sentence, “Don’t worry about it, darling.”

She scoffed at the inflection he placed on her favorite term of endearment.

\---

Athena was out cold for a few minutes before something pushing at her arms woke her up with a violent start. There was a dull thud of butt on metal as Nisha fell back, “What’d you do that for?”

Now coming to her senses, although dulled by the pitch black of the room, Athena shot back, “Don’t poke a sleeping bear.”

It was quiet for a second before Nisha spoke, “Was jus’ tryin’ ta thank you for carrying me back here.”

Unbeknownst to Fake Jack, neither woman remembered his hand in getting them home safe.

She was glad for the darkness as a smile struck itself onto Athena’s still somewhat inebriated face, “Don’t worry about it. No soldier left behind, right?”

The nudging against her arm returned as Nisha felt for her, blind without the light. A few squirms later and the cowgirl’s real intent became clear. Part of Athena wanted to protest as Nisha pressed her face into the crook of her neck but a much larger part was more than happy with having the other woman cuddling against her again. Even if it was mostly because both of them were still a little bit drunk.

Strong arm wrapped around a thin waist as Athena resigned herself to it though, “I really had a lot of fun today, Nisha. Thank you.”

“Yer welcome. We’ll do it again, yeah?”

“Yeah. Anytime.”

For a second as Athena was drifting off she could have sworn she felt Nisha plant a kiss against her neck.

At the time she’d passed it off as part of a dream edging in but the bright purple lipstick mark on her neck was still there in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack cooks up two plans: Get Nisha with Jack and befriend Athena. He works on the latter first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the fourth fanfic I've updated today because I'm completely dead on the inside and and now see through time.
> 
> This update's cut a bit short but it's because the chapter was turning into a monster chapter of 5-6k. There'll probably be another new chapter later today/tomorrow because it's nearly done. I just needed to split it a little.

Athena’s head was starting to hurt as the deafening gunfire continued.

Not to mention the ropes were cutting even harder into her wrists, shoulders aching as they were pulled behind her.

Looking out the window showed the nightmarish Pandoran sun was high in the sky.

\-----

Not-Jack hated Elpis if only for one reason- he couldn’t tell if he was supposed to be waking up without a sun to guide him.

He laid on the bottom bunk, staring up into the darkness and contemplating if it was even worth trying to go back to sleep. It wasn’t like he was a stranger to playing matchmaker but this was some next level shit.

Honestly, part of him thought even Nisha didn’t deserve being stuck with that asshole Jack but his wallet was screaming at him. Besides. Athena was nice. In a weird, gruff way but he didn’t want to see her get tossed in with a bad crowd. Yeah, money was the original motivator but Athena was the only one who’d been kind of nice to him.

Maybe he should just… befriend Athena. That just might be the easiest way to get her with Janey and get this done. Besides, it’s not like it would hurt to actually have a friend here. Or in general. He didn’t really have many friends before the surgery and he certainly didn’t have any now.

He nodded to himself. All the pieces were here, just had to gather them. Befriend Athena, get her with Janey, offload Nisha on Jack. Everybody wins, everybody’s happy.

The sound of his and Aurelia’s ECHO communicators going off brought him out of his thoughts.

There was a noise of anguish as Aurelia herself appeared over the edge of the top bunk, reaching for hers, “Augh… what now?”

\---

Over in Athena and Nisha’s room theirs went off as well. Both were slightly sore, realizing they’d fallen asleep in full clothing, including some armor.

Not to mention completely tangled up together. Nisha found she’d slid down a little and was getting a face full of Athena boob. To her surprise she was a little more than okay with that. She squirmed closer to wrap a leg around Athena as she groaned awake as well.

For a full minute Athena was mostly just confused about her current state. Slowly it seeped into her deeply hungover brain that Nisha was nuzzled happily into her chest. Furthermore, she was tightly and comfortably wrapped around her.

The most confusing part to Athena was how natural it felt.

She would have stayed like that for much longer had Nisha not spoken, “You gonna get that?”

It now occurred to Athena that both of their ECHO devices were loudly alerting them to a message. Not releasing her hold on Nisha’s waist she leaned over her and grabbed one, tapping off the other one with the edge. She was sure they said the same thing.

Nearly smothered Nisha with her boobs doing that, not that the cowgirl minded.

She pushed herself up so she could listen better, curling a boney arm around Athena’s shoulders, “Who’s it from? Jack?”

Athena just nodded as she hit play. Instructions to get rid of the jamming signal, significantly irritated that they’d waited a day to get back to him about this. Neither woman felt bad about this. Hell, in the other rooms they weren’t even concerned. Aurelia even laughed a little as she listened over Not Jack’s shoulder.

Go find Moxxi. That only meant anything to Not-Jack who’d had the impossibly sexy woman pointed out to him by Janey and Athena who already had known the woman. All six stumbled into the common area. Well, all five. Claptrap just kinda rolled in. He’s not really capable of stumbling. At least he shouldn’t be.

“Nice pants,” Nisha scoffed at Not Jack’s kitty PJs.

He sighed, ignoring her and Aurelia tittering away about his clothes. Walking into the shared bathroom he found Athena brushing her teeth angrily. The bags hanging heavy underneath her eyes implied she was fighting one hell of a hangover.

There was a pang in his gut as he noticed the smear of purple lipstick on her neck.

Shit. Was he already too late?

He remained calm as he sidled up to the sink next to her, grabbing his own blue and green brush. Silence. He broke it, “Had fun last night?”

She sighed, “Me and Nisha are the talk of the town I assume? I don’t remember much except making a huge ass out of myself.”

“Yeah kinda but mostly people just thought it was kind of… endearing to watch two absolute badasses drunkenly dancing, completely off beat.”

Well, no one had said that but he figured it would make her feel better.

“Yeah, well, at least promise me Claptrap didn’t join in.”

“Nah, nobody really knows where he went. Didn’t really check.”

It got quiet again as Athena rinsed her brush, Not-Jack brushing his own as she got started on fixing her hair. She quietly analyzed him before speaking, “Is there… something you want?”

Part of him wanted to just fess up but he opted to just focus on one of the subgoals. Specifically the friendship one. “Just… just looked like you two had a lot of fun. And I… I just… kinda wondered if I could come along too. Next time.”

Athena looked a little befuddled by that, looking down quietly for so long Not Jack almost wondered if he was supposed to walk away.

But she lifted her head in time, “You know, before this whole mess started I’ve never really had friends. Now you’re all practically climbing all over each other to hang out with me. Why?”

He knew his as in part because of the bet but frankly he probably would have tried to befriend her anyways. He just shrugged, “I ‘unno. You’re cool?”

“Two days in a row…” she muttered to herself, leaning against the sink as Not Jack got started on his own hair.

“What?”

“Both you and Nisha have told me I’m cool. Yesterday and today.”

“Well, I mean you are. You know that, right?”

The deafening silence as she stared into the mirror over her shoulder spoke volumes.

He nodded in reply, “Well, you are. Or at least me and Nisha think so. If that means anything to you.”

The smallest glint of a smile tried to shine before she forced it back into a frown, “Next time I’ll see if Nisha’d be okay with you tagging along. If not… just the two of us can hang out sometime. Maybe you can show me what normal friends do.”

“I’d like that,” he smiled back.

Before they could speak more Aurelia and Nisha were yelling for them to get out there and get ready to get going.

\---

As they drove to the compound to fix the jammed signal Not Jack was starting to get mixed feelings.

Observing Athena and Nisha from a distance she looked… happy. He couldn’t hear them over the rumbling of the car but it was impossible to ignore Nisha hawking over Athena’s shoulder, whispering something to her.

Nor Aurelia’s smug look, clearly trying to make eye contact to better gloat.

Not Jack just opted to stare forward, already getting lost in his own thoughts.

Athena, on the other hand, was trapped in her own mind. She had no idea if Not Jack had noticed the purple lipstick on her neck. Hell, she hadn’t noticed it herself until after they’d already had their conversation. Stark against her own pale skin.

She knew Nisha had. The cowgirl herself had looked surprised when she’d wandered into the bathroom and muttered, “You’ve got something on yer ne-” before cutting herself off.

After Athena wiped it away Nisha made some excuse and walked away in a hurry.

But now? The cowgirl was back on her, pressed up against her. Lips nearly close enough to leave another mark, this time on the side of Athena’s face. The rattling of the car threatening to make it a reality as it jostled the women.

Athena’s mind was entirely preoccupied by this as they battled their way through Redbelly’s army. This was new, foreign and uncomfortable territory. For all intensive purposes, Athena honestly believed there was something there. Weird and unnatural to her.

She turned it over in her mind over and over. It was painfully obvious to the others that something was upsetting her as she whiffed shot after shot. Her shield just barely protected her from stray bullets and clanged loudly as it missed someone’s head by a mile, ricocheting off a nearby rock.

Even Wilhelm seemed genuinely concerned watching her flub every goon they passed. He wasn’t a man prone to helping others but he quietly had Saint follow her around instead of himself. Had they asked, he would have said it was a tracking glitch.

Aurelia and Nisha just silently picked up the slack. Even though the latter was more than a bit preoccupied with her own thoughts too.

It certainly didn’t help that Not Jack was completely unnerved by seeing her like this. He could feel his plan slipping through his fingers and at this point was becoming acutely aware of exactly how uncomfortable he was getting at the prospect of putting money on this.

He watched Aurelia, looking for an sign of her thoughts on this but found nothing but confidence. Her smug mug betrayed no sort of discomfort with this. He had the distinct feeling she’d probably taken bets on things much worse than this.

Maybe he just needed to toughen up. It wasn’t out of the question that he was just too soft for his own good. Hell, too soft for Athena’s own good.

He steeled himself, preparing to corner real Jack once they got him into Concordia.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not Jack puts his plans to get Jack and Nisha together into play.
> 
> It goes poorly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE NOTE: this is the second chapter I've posted in the past 24 hours. If you've been keeping up with this you'll want to go one back to make sure you don't miss what happened. Shit'd be confusing if you skipped one.
> 
> Originally the two chapters were one but jeez it got way too long.

Sighing, Athena desperately wished she could get out of this building.

Athena was brought back to attention as a particularly loud gunshot took her out of her thoughts. Her head jerked suddenly and she painfully bashed it against the wooden headboard.

Swearing loudly, she remembered that good things never lasted. Not when Jack was around.

\----------

Everyone had slept soundly after the mission was over and they got real Jack off of the station. Splitting off from their boss had been a comfort to everyone but Not-Jack who still had the gears in his mind whirring. He barely even caught a wink of sleep.

Not Jack’d been extensively briefed on Jack’s habits and he knew the best chance he had at getting him alone was early, early in the morning. Because of course this douche is a morning person.

It was difficult but Not Jack pushed himself up in the morning at an obscenely early hour, ignoring Aurelia harping on him for waking her up as well. He was sure she was glaring at him through her diamond encrusted sleeping mask.

He still wandered out, stumbling and mumbling into the common area of the living quarters. A man on a mission. He had to find Jack immediately.

Okay, maybe he needed coffee first. Priorities.

Propping himself up on a counter while his coffee brewed he lazily looked over. For a split second his half awake brain thought he was looking in a mirror before it talked back to him, “Huh, really getting into character aren’t ya, kiddo? Love it. Love the conviction.”

The coffee cup very nearly avoided being shattered on the gritty floor as Not-Jack tried to snap to attention, “Uh, yes sir. Heard you were an early bird, figured I should, uh, follow suit.”

“Well keep it up. Maybe you’ll even get a ‘good job!’ out of it if you keep it up.”

God, he was smarmy. For a second Not Jack felt like not even Nisha deserved to be set up with this man. Then he remembered how horrible she is and how much money he’d placed on this bet. He started feeling significantly less bad.

“Anything else I should know about being you?” he started, as he poured his coffee and reached for the sugar.

The packet was smacked out of his hand, “Well first of all I take my coffee black.”

Not-Jack tried not to pull a face as he took a sip of the bitter drink and started to weave his trap, “Got, uh, any particular type of woman you’re into? So I can help… maintain your image?”

“Don’t move in on my territory, cupcake,” Jack hissed at him before bouncing back to the plastered on smile as he picked up his own cup.

“Okay then, to not do… that?”

Jack’s smile got less fake and more lecherous, decidedly not an improvement, “I like ‘em mean and terrifying. If I don’t think she can take out an entire Bandit camp all by her lonesome she’s not worth my time.”

“That uh… kinda describes every single woman you have employed right now.”

“Well, no duh. I mean, I’m not hiring you guys to sit around hugging kittens all day. Can’t have half my work force be weak right?”

God, a day spent hugging kittens sounded like an absolutely dream to Ti... Not Jack.

“Do you… like any of them?”

Jack shot up an eyebrow, taking a sip of his own coffee, “Okay, what’s the real deal with this third degree? An’ I’m not an idiot so don’t freaking lie to me again. I hate liars.”

Alright, have to change course, you can do this Not-Jack or your name’s not Timothy Lawrence! Well, I guess it’s not anymore either way. But you can do it! And he did, expertly shifting gears he answered, “Just… found out one of the girls has a little bit of a crush on you. I’ve just… always kinda liked playing matchmaker, figured why stop now?”

God, seeing Jack with a cat-who-ate-the-canary look was even worse. The tone of voice was equally unpleasantly seedy, like nails on a chalk board, “Well, now that’s interesting. Which one? Not like I can’t take a guess. Aurelia’s an ice queen and I’ve got a pretty strong hunch Athena’s, uh, let’s just say, she likes Taco Tuesday.”

Not-Jack laughed nervously, “You’re, uh, real good at figuring things out. But yeah, I think Nisha has a bit of a crush on you.”

“Think or know?”

Not Jack wavered for a second before answering, fairly confidently, “Know.”

Jack seemed to be mulling that over in his mind, mismatched eyes rolling around before he answered, “Alright. I gotta admit I don’t know much about you guys, I’ll take your word for it. I mean, you’ve got a face I can trust right?”

He laughed loudly, giving the side of Not-Jack’s face an affectionate slap before walking away. Not-Jack presumed it was to scheme about how to get Nisha’s attention. He felt a measure of pity for her but one look in his wallet said it was a necessary evil.

Besides. Athena was nice. In a weird, gruff way but he didn’t want to see her get tossed in with a bad crowd. Yeah, money was a motivator but Athena was the only one who’d been 

Aurelia griped at him more as he creaked the bed as he collapsed on the bottom bunk again.

Fortunately, she couldn’t slap him from the top bunk. Not for a lack of trying though.

\---

All was quiet for a solid day, which was incredibly confusing to the Vault Hunters. Jack’d disappeared midday and left them to their own devices, completely different from the hounding they were used to getting from him.

It was kind of nice to have a day off although they were suspicious. As a collective they’d always assumed he’d be even more of a helicopter boss when he was on the moon with them. However, they tried to have some fun. They’d wandered around Concordia in the morning but later on they’d grouped up again to play some cards.

Aurelia spent the evening teaching them a high class card game and then immediately insisting they play a strip version of it. Not for keepsies. But still.

At the end of the night she and Wilhelm were fully dressed, Athena and Nisha were hanging onto their undies for dear life and Not Jack was deadass naked. It was one hell of an awkward walk of shame out of the common areas, the others jeering at him as he did his best not to expose himself.

Little did Not Jack know he was in for even worse the next day.

\---

Jack looked incredibly roughed up when he went around, slamming a fist on their doors, “Rise and shine, cupcakes! We’ve got crap to do!!”

Ah, yes, that was the type of behavior they were expecting.

They all lazily slogged out into the main area, all still tugging on clothes and trying to fix their hair without a mirror. Nisha was impressively doing her lipstick from sheer muscle memory, getting a polite and appreciative golf clap from Aurelia.

The dark glare from Jack stopped that as he held up a ECHO device and hit play, sounding out a recording of the Meriff saying some damned incriminating stuff. He was nearly snarling, “We’re going Meriff hunting today.”

At that he turned away and violently gestured for the Vault Hunters to follow him as he stomped towards the elevator. Frankly the six of them were incredibly surprised that their boss had done all that work himself.

Jack didn’t even pay them any mind as he quickly stomped towards the Meriff’s office with fire in his eyes. They quietly dispatched the security forces as they tried to keep up with him.

“Huxter. The Huxster. Huxxie. How you doin’ buddy? Hanging out with Zarpedon going well?!” Jack yelled.

Before The Meriff could even answer Jack shot him down cold with a shot from his wrist blaster.

The Vault Hunter recoiled as he just as quickly turned to them, blasters still smoking as he surveyed them with anger.

“What’re you looking at? Job done!” he spat out, “GO!!”

The Vault Hunters were far from scaredy cats but they also generally try to stay on the good side of the person paying them. Quickly turning to leave only Not Jack was snagged by the shoulder as he snarled at him, “Not you, kiddo.”

Only Athena paused at that, ready to stay behind to make sure the doppelganger didn’t get an extra hole in his skull. Wilhelm grabbed her wrist though, dragging her towards the door in what she could only figure was some sort of protectiveness. Scattering like rabbits they filed out of the elevator into Concordia, finding a crevice to lurk and wait to be summoned again.

Not Jack tried not to look too terrified as Jack addressed him, twisting the collar of his jack and gesturing with the end of the blaster as he spoke in a mocking tone, “Oh yeah boss, yeah, I know for sure she likes you! You definitely won’t look like A FUCKING IDIOT JACKASS or anything!!”

He was more than smart enough to know exactly what real Jack was referring to. Immediately stuttering he knew he should have listened to his gut and not intervened, “I-I-I’m sorry Jack, I was... I was sure she-”

“She wasn’t,” Jack hissed, jabbing the blaster into Not Jack’s jaw, “And I looked like a dumbass walking in there and acting like she did. She LAUGHED at me.”

“I-I’m sorr-”

“Shut up.”

At that Jack released him, letting him drop to the ground with a sack of dead Skag.

Surprisingly, he was allowed to get back on his feet. Whimpering and flinching he looked back up at Jack, weirdly relieved to see his arms crossed and getting no worse than the look of a disappointed father.

“You’re lucky you’re you and not any of them. You’ve got a face I just can’t stay mad at, if only because it costed me a very pretty penny. Don’t do it again. Go.”

Not Jack disappeared out the room, full out sprinting until he was safely back in his and Aurelia’s quarters. Completely ignoring the concern voice of Athena and the mockery of Nisha and Aurelia, Wilhelm quiet snickering with them.

“Wonder what Jack did to ‘em,” Nisha laughed.

Aurelia rolled her eyes as Athena glared at her then the door to the room, “Augh, fine, I’ll check on him.”

With a heavy sigh she pushed herself up off the arm chair, regretting making herself his roommate and apparently his keeper. She lazily traipsed into their room with a small courtesy knock. As the door closed she called out to him, “Jack?”

“Don’t… don’t call me that…” he muttered.

Another roll of Aurelia’s eyes as she walked over and smoothed out the blanket before sitting next to him on the bottom bunk, “It’s the only name we have for you, darling.”

For a second he looked up at her, before averting his eyes to the ground, “Timothy.”

“Well, Timothy, what happened?” she asked, putting heavy emphasis on his name.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s over, I’m not doing this anymore.”

“You’re leaving?” she asked, sounding genuinely surprised, “But your contrac-”

“The bet, Aurelia. I’m out. I don’t care. I’ll pay the difference. I tried to set Nisha up with Jack, I thought she liked him, she didn’t. I nearly got fucking shot in the face, my life’s not worth that money. I’m paying out.”

“You’re overreactin-”

Cut short, she watched him dig into his jacket pocket and pull out a puppy dog wallet, rooting around until he completely gutted it and roughly shoved all of his money into her gloved hand.

“Look, it’s not all of it but I’ll get the rest to you as soon as I can.”

Aurelia looked at the small, crumpled bills in her hand with a bit of scorn and a good measure of disappointment.

“Well, this is no fun,” she muttered, mulling it over for a second before handing the money back.

He sounded irritated now, “I said I’m not playing anymore.”

Pulling out her own purse she reached in and grabbed just a couple of the many bills in it and handed them to him. Looking up at her in confusion he didn’t seem to know what to make of a gift from her. Was it a trap?

“I’m not doing this bet for money, darling, I’m doing it because I’m dreadfully, dreadfully bored,” she droned on, “If such a tiny amount is such a big deal to you now the bet is just to get my own money back. Just don’t spend it and wait for the results. No tampering.”

“Thanks Aurelia, that’s… that’s surprisingly nice…” he said, somewhat alarmed to be holding more money than he’s ever had at once.

“Just remember. Don’t spend it,” she chastised, walking towards the exit, “Also, don’t tell the others. I have a reputation to keep up.”

A while later he joined the others, for a while, before everyone started getting sleepy.

\---

Athena politely averted her eyes as Nisha was pulling on her pajamas, silently contemplating the events of the day.

She didn’t know what to make of all of this. She was no stranger to killing but Jack had put the Meriff down like a sick dog. An execution. Yeah, I mean, the Meriff was a bad guy and endangering the people of Elpis but just… the brutality.

Nisha didn’t seem to mind. Stealthily Athena stole a glance at her, looking at her unaware face for any signs of discomfort. To her surprise, she found some.

As Nisha went to climb up to the top bunk Athena stopped her, “Hey. You alright?”

“The hell, you think I haven’t seen a guy’s brain get aerated before? You think I’m that soft?”

“No, I seriously doubt that phased you. But did something else happen?”

Nisha looked away for a second before answering, “Yeah. Somethin’ happened.”

“Well?”

“Why do I gotta tell you?”

“We’re friends?”

That word caused Nisha significant pause. She finally let go of the top bunk’s railing and sighed, pushing Athena over a bit to sit next to her, “Jack hit on me.”

“Why’s that upsetting you? I mean, when we got lost out in the wilderness you basically told me you wanted to bang him. And by basically I mean graphically. It was gross. What changed?”

“None of your business.”

“We live together AND work together, it’s kind of my business.”

“I just ain’t interested in him anymore. So I told him no,” Nisha said, refusing to make eye contact.

Athena gave her an inquisitive up-and-down look, “Interested in someone else?”

The cowgirl didn’t answer but seized up, arms completely stiff, “Don’t make me repeat myself. None of your business.”

Athena’s suspicions were only getting more and more confirmed as she realized how deep she was into uncharted territory, “Alright.”

Nisha went back to the subject at hand, “But whatever, Jack asked me out, got rejected and threw that hissy fit you just saw. Although I think there’s something else goin’ on that upset him ‘cause right after I rejected him he started stalking away muttering about ‘lying.’ I know I ain’t lied to him so I don’t know who did.”

“Weird,” Athena mumbled, “What’s up with that?”

“I ‘unno, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out all day.”

“Well… it’s his problem not ours. At the end of the day, if he tried to hurt any of us we could easily take him down. He’s tough but so are all of us and we outnumber him.”

Nisha nodded at that, “Yeah, I know, it’s just weird. I don’t like weird.”

“Well... either way this job is temporary. If you don’t wannabe around Jack, you won’t be around Jack after it’s all over. We gotta get to sleep though, I have a feeling we’re gonna have a long day tomorrow.”

Athena shoved at Nisha who immediately went limp noodle on her, laughing as she flopped over the gladiator’s arm, “I don’t wanna.”

“Oh my god, are you twelve?” Athena groaned, managing to shove Nisha off enough to lay down.

It didn’t stop Nisha from trying her damndest to smush Athena, a feat that was going fairly well considering she had a good half a foot on her. She just kept giggling maniacally as Athena kept trying to shove her off. With a sigh she gave up, letting Nisha just lie on her chest-to-chest.

“You’re heavy.”

“Wow, rude.”

Before Athena could say anything else Nisha reached up and turned off the light, covering them in darkness.

There were a few more futile attempts to push Nisha off but she only settled in further, chin nuzzling into the crook of Athena’s neck. Her legs lazily dangled on either side of Athena’s, further trapping her in this obnoxious cuddle.

Eventually Athena gave up, putting her arms around Nisha’s lower back.

“Can you at least not be on top of me if you’re sleeping down here?”

“No.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity rises and Felicity falls, causing Athena to feel regret for joining Jack's Vault Hunters.

Athena desperately wanted to rejoin the fighting outside, getting increasingly annoyed at the ropes cutting into her wrists.

Combat was all she knew, all she craved.

She hated how much she relied on it, how much she loved it. But it was who she was. It had taken a long time but she’d came to accept it.

Even under these strained circumstances she’d loved fighting her way into this town, almost too much. It had been a long time, she’d been in Sanctuary for too long. She’d gone soft. Gotten sloppy.

It shouldn’t have been so easy for the Bruiser to catch her, Marauders tying her hands behind her back and tossing her into the nearest building. Leaving her to wait and wait while their leader takes their sweet time with coming to deal with her.

If there was one thing Athena had taken away from her time with Jack and his crew was that everything could be compared to combat. She can translate anything into a language she knows.

This was just a lull in the fight, not common but not unheard of. She was down but was more than ready to get back up.

Athena thought of all the things she’d lived through.

This would be fine.

\----------

It was so obvious that Nisha hated kids.

Athena couldn’t help but laugh along with the others as Nisha fumed, irritated that a child was calling the shots.

They could hear her mumble under her breath, admonishing Jack for putting them under the control of a kid. She was wanted to get onto the wreckage of that Dahl ship and get this over with.

With irritation she shoved them forwards, being civil only to Skipper as she introduced herself as a captive of the Bosun. She wasn’t a softie but Nisha totally hated guys like that. The fact he kept inconveniencing the group was just the shit cherry on top of the fuck cake of this annoying day.

Frankly, Nisha was grumpy right up until they killed the Bosun.

NIsha, of course, was dealing with other things in her mind. She could try and misplace it all on the plucky orphan child as much as she wanted but the fact remained. Athena had a hold on her mind and she didn’t think she liked it much.

Athena was far from a goody two-shoes. It wasn’t like her hands weren’t soaked in blood just as much as the cowgirl’s.

Regardless, Nisha didn’t understand the pull she felt.

She’d tried to place false meanings on it. The fun of corrupting a justice seeker, the thrill of a potentially torrid romance, the enjoyment of attention.

Despite it all she knew what it was. An odd sort of kindred spirit. Someone else born in blood and fire, who’s never known a normal life. Someone like her, where combat is her one and only solace.

Nisha knew that somewhere deep down Athena loved that life.

She could see it on her face, plain as day. They all could.

Killing the Bosun was no different. Athena seemed downright delighted as her hefty shotgun found his skull, pressed tightly against the skin of his face as she pulled the trigger. Nisha admired the way Athena’s muscles clenched to steady the gun as she reduced the man’s head to a bloody pulp on the ground.

An odd sort of urgency overtook Nisha, seeing that. It drove her to saunter over, putting a bony arm around Athena’s shoulder, pulling her close and whispering in her ear, “That’s one hell of a good job, pumpkin.”

Athena knew it was there too. Every movement Nisha made nowadays was seared into her mind. Atlas training was starting to feel easier and easier to ignore. You can tell a human love is useless a thousand times but deep down, they know that’s not true. Every human needs love.

Fighting against that notion was becoming easier the longer she spent with Jack’s crew. Love is not even an exclusively romantic notion. She could even feel it for the friends she grew closer to every day. When they weren’t being dragged around by Jack’s demand they had… fun.

In these past few months they’d fucked around plenty. Jack couldn’t always keep them on track. They’d done some odd jobs for Janey, poor girl always trying and failing to get Athena’s attention. Not Jack showed that he was surprisingly good at basketball and even more surprisingly tolerant of being on fire. They raced a child, Nisha hanging out the side and laughing mockingly as they blow up his dad’s car. Wilhelm and Aurelia taking an odd delight in the hippie women realizing exactly how uncute “Cuties” were.

Athena could say confidently they were her “friends” and she “loved” them.

Nisha occupied a special slot though. Of someone Athena was starting to see as more than a friend.

It all twisted in her chest, a weird and confusing mass.

\---

It was slightly terrifying for the other four, having their fifth and sixth so distracted.

They were capable of picking up the slack if need be but of the remaining four only one of them was a trained and experienced killer-for-hire.

And frankly, right now Wilhelm would kill even more than usual to have the other actually-qualified-Vault-Hunters fully on board right now. Aurelia’s skill wasn’t something to laugh at and Not Jack had become fairly formidable but they just didn’t have the experience.

Even Jack seemed to be aware the women weren’t on their A Game. Or even their B Game. Most of his criticisms being isolated on those two. The closest they got to true situational awareness was when Skipper renamed herself Felicity. Athena smiled and spoke into her comm, “Good for you.”

Both were also mildly paying attention when they met Gladstone, Athena more than Nisha. Cordial as always, Gladstone seemed to appreciate her polite, straightforward nature.

After that Athena and Nisha coasted again, carried by their team until they were suddenly looking at the giant, terrifying form of Felicity, now rampant, and fucking pissed. Had Athena been more conscious of the situation she would have protested Jack’s takeover of the benevolent AI more. Even now she felt only regret.

Of course, Felicity had no chance. She’d pulled the two distracted women out of their stupor and was now facing the full force of six deadly Vault Hunters.

The walk back to their homes in Concordia was dismal.

Some of them weren’t the sort of care about whether something was good or not. Wilhelm and Nisha had no concern for the feelings of an AI but it was uncomfortable for them being surrounded by people who do.

Surprisingly Aurelia was the one taking it the worst and it was jarring to see the puffed up woman so deflated. It was really the last thing they’d expected, for her to be the one torn up by this. Even Not Jack wasn’t as perturbed as her, although he seemed to be walking around with a heavy weight on his mind.

Athena was the middle ground. While she certainly didn’t like the Felicity situation she… she knew it was necessary. Or at least she thought it was.

Either way she had been a bit mopey, sulking around and refusing eye contact.

Right now they didn’t even know where she was. Aurelia was too upset herself to really deal with it, holing up in her room and demanding various drinks and snacks from Moxxi’s from Not Jack. His resistance to being her bellboy died pretty quickly as she held up the fat wads of cash.

Wilhelm wasn’t about to go and find Athena and Claptrap… well, who the hell knows what Claptrap’s doing.

Nisha was just about the only one left who gave enough of a fuck to go and hunt her down.

Their communicators had just enough information on them to let Nisha know Athena was still on Concordia somewhere. It was just a matter of figuring out where.

People ignored the cowgirl prowling around, as she intended. Blending in was a surprisingly honed skill of Nisha’s, allowing her to skulk around unnoticed. Checking off a list in her head, she searched for the missing woman.

Common areas were the first out, considering that’s where she’d normally be. Moxxi’s bar was her second thought but she only found drunken idiots and the bimbo clown there. A sneaky peek into Janey’s Emporium-O-Stuff revealed it was empty, sans the eponymous Janey eating a sandwich.

Black market? Nothing. Sitting area outside the Meriff’s office? Nothing. That one dumb flower statue made of guns that took forever because Borderlands is surprisingly stingy with the backspace for being a shoot and loot? You better believe there was nothing.

Well, no where to go but up.

Nisha’d always kinda liked going up on the rooftops but frankly, she was kind of worried if she didn’t find Athena up here.

It took a bit longer than she would have liked but eventually she found the gladiator sitting on one of the edges, staring out at Pandora in the distance. Completely oblivious to the fact she’s not alone. Didn’t even notice the footsteps as Nisha climbed up to her level. It wasn’t until Nisha plopped herself down next to her did she come out of her thoughts.

Surveying Nisha, Athena tried to come up with something witty and curt to say as to not have to deal with any sort of emotional bullshit but nothing came up.

“You okay?”

Whoop, there it is.

Athena sighed, “No. Not really.”

“You… wanna talk about it or like… some shit like that?”

“No. Not really.”

Nisha sighed, “Can I get somethin’ at least?”

“I didn’t like doing that.”

“Unsurprising.”

Athena screwed up her face, “Look… I know I’ve never been the good guy but I’ve also never been the bad guy. I don’t want to be either. I don’t like it.”

“Well, sorry kiddo, sometimes life is black and white.”

Nisha wasn’t a person built to be comforting and Athena’s unimpressed stare at that statement only highlighted that.

With a groan Nisha continued, “Things just… are what they are. Life’s got two barrels of crap aimed at you at all times, one barrel good, one barrel bad. No matter what yer gonna get hit with both. All you can do is try and pull out the buckshot and keep going.”

“So basically life is pointless?”

“Nah, not pointless,” Nisha shook her head, “I think we’re just on this shithole planet to have fun. Well, we’re on a shithole moon right now. Not a planet. But you get what I mean, right?”

“Well… I’m not having fun.”

Nisha nudged her hard in the side, “That’s ‘cause you never let yerself have any. Ever considered not givin’ a fuck and doin’ whatever it is you want? Very liberating.”

“My Atlas trai-”

“I swear to god if you fuckin’ bring up Atlas training I’m throwing you off this roof myself,” Nisha nearly yelled, Athena having no doubt in her mind she was dead serious about that threat, “Who gives a shit? They’re dead, you’re not. It’s like the skag got off the leash but it’s not runnin’ away. Who cares what some jackasses tried to brainwash you into? Don’t even think it ever worked.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I know enough.”

Athena crossed her arm, glaring more intensely at Pandora, “I should have never taken this job.”

“Ya don’t… ya don’t mean that.”

Nisha’s unsure tone caught Athena off guard. Attempting to casually steal a glance Athena found her looking… disappointed? Maybe… maybe hurt? She was never good at reading emotions.

“I’d be mighty bored if you weren’t here,” Nisha confessed, “Kinda liked to think the feeling was mutual.”

Athena didn’t have a good answer for her.

Nisha sighed in irritation, pushing herself up, “Fine, be that way. Last time I reach ou-”

It was almost comical how easy it was for Athena to stop her, yanking her back down with a painful sounding thud as ass met ground. Iron grip still holding onto Nisha’s upper arm, Athena spoke, “Look. I’m not… I’m not good at any of this. This people… stuff. I would… be bored too if you weren’t here.”

“The feelin’s are mutual then?” Nisha angled, looking for a bite.

Athena knew all too well exactly what Nisha meant by feelings. It was glaring, white hot, right in front of her. Unignorable. Demanding a scalding lava answer be dredged up from Athena’s volcanic rock of a heart.

Nisha examined her face as she waited with a patience that didn’t become her. Gears were churning in Athena’s mind, completely evident on her face. It took all she had not to gasp for air as she suddenly realized she’d stopped breathing. Regulating it, Nisha continued to wait.

It felt like forever before Athena’s lips parted again, “The feelings are mutual.”

She grunted as Nisha suddenly hit her, open palmed, on the back. Nearly cackling, Nisha was digging her claws into her shoulder and thigh, “Was that so hard, darlin’?”

Athena’s stony silence said “yes.”

Nisha was sated though, knowing it was pointless and destructive to try and coax any more direct of a confession out of her.

Not that she was done, mind you.

Athena froze up as Nisha sidled closer, pulling her closer with a thin arm wrapped around her neck until she could feel her breathing in her ear, “We gonna start havin’ more fun together then?”

Slowly, so slowly, Athena nodded her head before answering, “We… we could.”

A calloused hand suddenly on Athena’s throat, gripping gently. Another roughly pulling her chin to put her eye-to-eye with Nisha, “We could or we gonna?”

It was cute to Nisha how quickly Athena’s breath sped up, eyes nearly quivering as the gladiator looked up at her. Like a cornered animal but in a sexy way. Ready to lash out as the tension rose higher and higher until…

Nisha’s hat fluttered to the rooftop behind them as a fistful of her hair was roughly grabbed, Athena pulling her into a rough, painful kiss.

Mouth clamped shut, awkward and aggressive. Nisha had no doubt that this was Athena’s first kiss.

It ended as abruptly as it began. Athena jerked Nisha’s head away again, still by a fistul of hair. Not that Nisha was complaining in the slightest. Before she could make a bawdy joke about it, Athena took off.

It wasn’t terribly a surprise to Nisha, watching her flee like that.

But she’d accomplished her goal. She’d opened the door. Figured she was pretty free to come and go as she pleases now. Plucking her hat off the rooftops she put it on with a smirk.

Still smiling wickedly, Nisha lazily pushed herself up and sauntered after the sprinting Athena.

\---

Luckily no one was outside their rooms, letting Athena run into hers unhindered. Within seconds she’d ripped her armor off and was in some pajamas, throwing herself into the bottom bunk violently to pretend to sleep.

She knew that wouldn’t find her tonight. What had she done?

It played over in her mind over and over.

A kiss. She’d kissed someone. And she’d been the one to pull the trigger.

Inelegantly. She knew enough to know that grabbing someone by the hair and yanking them into it isn’t the way to go about it. However, she sincerely doubted Nisha cared. If anything the roughness had lit a spark in the cowgirl, bright yellow eyes gleaming with a foreign concept.

Athena knew what it was though.

Lust.

That only panicked her more.

She’d opened Pandora’s box and there wasn’t a way in hell she could get everything crammed back in.

Moreover, she didn’t want to.

Even as she lay here alone the remains of the fire smoldered inside her. Each time it played over again in the mind it threatened to flare up. Like a warm heat in her stomach creeping down, down between her legs.

Shamefully, curiously, her hand slid down her. Even over her underarmor shorts she could absolutely feel heat radiating out of her in places she’d never given a second thought except on the loneliest, privatest of nights.

Only she knew tonight wasn’t going to be private.

Jerking her hand away, Athena heard the door click open as Nisha came into their room.

The room remained basked in darkness as Nisha felt around. Sounds of her stripping down to sleep seemed thunderous in Athena’s ears, not helping to calm the fire in her stomach at all. Nothing could have prepared her for Nisha to slid into the bed next to her though. It was like a grenade had gone off in Athena’s chest.

Not that Nisha hadn’t done that before but now… now everything was so different.

In some ways literally. This time, the bony arm Nisha placed around her felt in the dark for a second. Looking for a mirrored other half. It didn’t take her long to find Athena’s arm before painfully slowly, and most certainly deliberately, going up to intertwine their fingers together.

Nisha didn’t intend to take it any further tonight though. Even now Athena could feel her breath slow on her neck as Nisha started to drift off.

Sleep didn’t find Athena that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That is the closest to a sexy scene I've ever written and there's scenes later on that go further I'm a blushing pansy and already embarrassed. D:


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Vault Hunters have to do some menial tasks to get the scientists to help, Nisha takes advantage of the situation.

The lulls in the battle raging outside were the worst.

From her spot lying on the bed Athena could hear them talking outside. Sometimes even a tense laugh, hopefully and usually not penetrated by gunfire.

It was no different than her time with Jack’s Vault Hunters. Even when they’d navigated the most dangerous scav outposts they were still always chatting about something. Suppose you have to keep your mind occupied when dealing with shit like this.

Right now all Athena had though was her mind, filled with a twisting mess of memories.

Some she’d rather forget. Some she’d rather remember.

\----------

God, these scientists were annoying.

Athena ignored the blathering of most of them, although Gladstone seemed to have his head on straight.

When they showed up he briefed them on a few other scientists they could pick up. The other Vault Hunters immediately set about figuring it out, pulling out their maps to locate the three. Naturally, they decided to split up to get it done faster.

Nisha and Athena were assigned to hunt down Dr. Torres. Gladstone had shot them a sympathetic look which made them worry a bit.

It didn’t matter though, they left to find him, just like everyone else.

Except, unlike everyone else, there was a tension.

A couple days had passed since the kiss. Nisha knew well enough not to push too hard with Athena, lest she just bolt and get even harder to track down. Can’t talk about it head on. Not that she didn’t tease her when there’s a window. However, right now she wasn’t about to leave a mission so…

“We, uh, ever going to do anything about what happened?”

Athena didn’t answer, just continued looking forward and stomping towards their goal.

Sighing, Nisha continued, “I know you ain’t deaf. I don’t much like being ignored.”

Resolve wavering, Athena looked over at her with an utterly resigned look of uncertainty. For her, this was new and uncomfortable waters and Nisha was trying to pop a hole in her floaties.

On Nisha’s end it wasn’t like she hadn’t had little boyfriends before. Most of which she’s shot and buried herself when she lost interest. None of them had really measured up to her standards and one fool had even made the decision to try and control her.

With Athena it was different. The woman was a powerhouse, Nisha doubted she could take her out even if she snuck up on her or attacked her in her sleep.

The only part that really seemed to perturb Nisha was that Athena actually wouldn’t be a bad partner. All previous relationships had been based on empty carnal feelings, punctuated by a flair for intense violence. Athena was stable. A level of normalcy that Nisha wasn’t used to welcoming into her life so readily.

But Nisha wasn’t known for making predictable choices, always a surprise even to herself.

“Look, I know yer weirded out about all this but I’d like to, you know, proceed with things.”

Athena continued her silence for a while before giving a small nod in agreement.

“So you want this to be a thing?”

An even smaller nod.

“Is the big bad gladiator scared?” Nisha teased.

A glare.

“Calm down, darlin’. Just tryin’ to have a little fun with you is all. It’s not so bad, you don’t have to act like I’m torturing you here. Unless you’re inta that.”

But as their footsteps echoed in the empty facility, it certainly felt like that. What Athena wouldn’t give to have some torks pop out right about now but the area remained quiet. Perfectly peaceful. She hated it.

“I’ve just… never kissed anyone before. That’s all.”

“Well, no shit. Nearly knocked my teeth out.”

That hit Athena like an embarrassing bag of bricks, face going bright red as she looked away and tensed up even more.

Probably not the best thing to say, Nisha tried to correct herself, “It’s not like a bad thing or nothin’. I kinda like a blank slate, get ta teach you all the fun things myself. I’ve been told I’m pretty damn good too, so get excited for that.”

Fun stuff. God, Athena went even brighter red at that.

Nisha smirked, she was definitely going to enjoy cracking this one open.

“We could make out right here iffin you want,” Nisha teased, “I mean, we’re alone and hell, who cares if we find Dr. Torres sooner or later?”

Athena started walking faster, nearly running now, as Nisha cackled and chased after her.

“Yer a hoot,” Nisha smirked, easily keeping pace with the much shorter woman, “You know that right?”

“Yeah I’m great, the best ever,” Athena grunted, “Dr. Torres should be right ahead.’

Gladstone’s previous sympathetic look made perfect sense as a grown ass man screamed for his teddy bear. Of course this manchild won’t leave without it.

Nisha mocked him as they left, following his directions to the tank the bear was in, “Oh my god, really? We’re getting a teddy bear. Vault Hunters. Big, scary Vault Hunters. Teddy Bear Rescue Squad.”

“Let’s just get this done and get back to Concordia.”

“That eager to get me home alone?”

This flirting had been constant, part of the package she supposed from that kiss. Of course, Athena had no idea what to do about it. Didn’t know how to shut it down, didn’t know if she even wanted to do that.

“Come on, Athena, play back a little. Give me something.”

Now that was something even more foreign to her.

“Don’t have anything to give,” Athena replied, intently avoiding looking at Nisha as she searched for the stairs, “You’re begging from a poor man.”

“You could try?”

Athena grunted in reply.

Nisha sighed, “You’re frustrating.”

Stomping up the steps, they could finally see the tank of water.

Way down at the bottom was the teddy bear.

Nodding, Athena looked around, “Alright, let’s find where the drainage control is. We can get rid of all the water, hop down, grab the bear and be back to the scienti- what the fuck are you doing?”

Already dropping her coat, boots, and armor on the ground, Nisha was holding out her hat to Athena, “Hold this, I’m just gonna jump in. I’m a good swimmer.”

Despite taking the hat, Athena protested, “That’s ridiculous, we can just find-”

“This is easier, faster and also I don’t give a fuck.”

Nisha simply winked at her before diving in, swimming down quickly to grab at the waterlogged toy.

It was only a few seconds before the deed was done and Nisha pushed herself up off the bottom of the tank, bursting out of the top with a gasp. Slapping the soggy prize on the ground, Nisha pointed up with a smirk, “There. Done. Help pull me up.”

Despite how hard she was rolling her eyes Athena obliged, reaching down and easily hoisting Nisha out of the water.

“Now get your stuff and let’s just get ba-” Athena started before being completely cut off by the sight in front of her.

The telling look of mischief on Nisha’s face made it abundantly clear she’d at least somewhat planned this but Athena was far too distracted to notice.

It had been sheer coincidence that Nisha’d opted out of a bra today and she’d taken this coincidental mission to make things sheer. Looking like she’d wandered out of a wet t shirt contest she teased Athena with a wink, “Well. Somebody likes what they see.”

Gaping like an idiot fish, Athena couldn’t come up with a reply. Still frozen in surprise.

The flimsy fabric of Nisha’s tank top was essentially pointless now, plastered against her body. Athena could see everything. She didn’t move at all until the soaked teddy bear was shoved into her arms.

Stepping back into her boots, Nisha threw her jacket over her shoulder as she continued to beam at Athena with everything out on display, “Alright, let’s get goin’ then.”

“P-put your jacket back on.”

“Why? Don’t like the view?” Nisha practically sang, wiggling her torso enticingly “Or just want it to be a private show?”

“Why aren’t you wearing a bra?”

“Don’t really have to, don’t got much goin’ on up top. Didn’t answer my question though. Don’t want everyone else to see?”

Her boots tapped as she bounced on the balls of her feet, making her chest jiggle as much as possible. Granted that wasn’t much but it definitely ensured Athena’s attention. Mocking laughter ripped her eyes away, pretending to scrutinize a machine on the opposite wall.

“Welp, if you’ve got no reasons for me not to…” Nisha turned, walking back towards Gladstone’s lab.

“Stop,” Athena commanded.

“Whhhy?” Nisha nearly whined, faux-pouting at Athena over her shoulder, “What’re you going to do about it?”

“Fine, just…” Athena mumbled her admission, “I don’t want them to see too, okay? Now put your stupid jacket on.”

Nisha obliged, tossing it over her shoulders but pulling it open with a gentle sway back and forth, “You sure you don’t want one last look? Maybe cop a feel? Consider this your formal invitation darlin’.”

Grabbing the front of her jacket, Athena clamped it shut but it pulled Nisha very, very close, “You’re shameless, you know that, right?”

“Yeah. You love it,” Nisha beamed down at her, “You can pretend you don’t but you do.”

“Who’s pretending?” she calmly replied. Before Nisha could reply she yelped in surprise as a strong hand took her up on her offer, snaking inside the jacket. Athena’s other arm was hooked around Nisha’s lower back, keeping her close for a second as she gave Nisha’s boob a firm grope.

It was over as quickly as it began though. Athena pulling back, zipping up Nisha’s jacket for her while the other woman was still a little shellshocked that her flirting had not only been reciprocated but shown up.

“Didn’t know you had that in ya, girl scout,” Nisha eventually smirked, adjusting the jacket, “Ended way too quickly but I liked it.”

“Good,” Athena grunted, bending over to pick up the bear, “Let’s get this back to him now so we can get this over with.”

Nisha took the opportunity to slap Athena’s ass, the smack resonating in the empty laboratory along with Athena’s shocked yell, “Can’t wait to get me home now, can ya?”

Straightening up, her face was bright red only increasing the wide, mocking smile plastered on Nisha’s face.

“Yer blushin’, that’s real cute.”

“Shut up.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack takes things a bit too far and some of the Vault Hunters's loyalty begins to waver.

Wilhelm is dead. Has been for a while now.

That cold fact always lurked in the back of Athena’s mind and even trapped like this it was no different. Rumors had even reached her ears that Jack had sabotaged him.

One of their six, already dead. A second in grave danger. A third, herself, tied up in a shack.

Athena’d gotten along better with Wilhelm than most. A sort of kindred soul, another person raised as a fighter. Never had much time to talk to him, always wished she had even though it was incredibly hard to get him to open up. Now it was too late.

At that she lost it a little, shoving herself up into a sitting position.

She was getting the fuck out of here, no more waiting.

\----------

The others had given them funny looks when Athena came back with a waterlogged Nisha practically hanging off her arm.

But either way they had the teddy bear and that was all that mattered.

It was the oddest relief, getting back to Jack and out of the abandoned laboratory. Everyone was starting to get the feeling that they were approaching the end and every time they saw Jack it felt like this shitty job was closer and closer to being done.

However, none of them were braced for what happened next.

Casually chatting with their boss and the two original Vault Hunters, Lilith and Roland, they were surprised when a wall opened up to reveal the scientists.

Jack flipped. No one really knew why but he kept insisting and insisting that “they’d betray him!” and “there’s a double agent!” Athena flinched at the fear in Gladstone’s eyes when Jack accused him. Some benign statement the scientist had made that had damned him and his cohorts.

As suddenly as Jack’s outburst began it ended, coldly and cruelly venting the scientists into the void of space.

The pandemonium was brief. Most of the Vault Hunters didn’t even have time to react. Only Athena and Aurelia, the two who had been standing near the window, did. Instinctually, Athena had reached out to grab for Gladstone’s hand as he clung to the side. Her hand only found glass. She stayed frozen like that for a second as she helplessly watched the innocent scientists meet their untimely fate.

A tight vice grip on her wrist and upper arm was what brought her out of it. While she’d reached out to help someone she’d barely known from danger, one of their own had grabbed her. As if the gladiator herself was in danger of tumbling into space with the others.

Aurelia herself looked surprised with her actions. Staring down at her hands as if they weren’t her own even as ice crackled around Athena’s arm to further “protect” her. There was a small shattering noise as she let go, fragments of her literally icy grip still on Athena’s sleeve. She’d… she’d tried to help someone.

Gaping at Athena she seemed to search for a cold comment but all that tumbled out of her mouth was, “A-are you okay, darling?”

Athena was equally baffled by Aurelia’s behavior but nodded slowly, “I’m… I’m fine. Kind of.”

Looking around those two weren’t the only ones uncomfortable with this. Claptrap was clearly distressed and poor Not Jack looked like he was ready to throw up. Unsurprisingly Wilhelm seemed completely unphased but Nisha… Nisha looked downright excited. Athena felt a pang of anger and jealousy at the way Nisha was looking at Jack right now.

As soon as Jack let them free, they dispersed quickly. The upset ones nearly running back to their rooms in Concordia.

For a few hours everything was quiet. Wilhelm had offered to buy a round for everyone in an odd sort of celebration of violence but only Nisha had taken him up on that offer. Claptrap disappeared into the aether. Athena lay on her bunk, staring up at the bottom of the top blankly. The only noise she could hear was the vague noises of Aurelia and Not Jack talking in the room next to hers.

After a while that noise stopped, replaced by the sound of heels on metal. A short rap on her door, followed by Aurelia’s voice, “Athena? Athena, dear?”

Groaning, Athena pushed herself off the bed. Sore places ached as she did, immediately regretting her choice not to remove her armor before lying down.

Aurelia towered over her as she leaned in, voice barely above a whisper, “Come now, we’ll speak in private. Not safe to talk out here.”

Athena let Aurelia steer her into the other room without a fuss.

It was the first time she’d seen inside it since they’d all moved in. The way it was divided was odd, like they’d split it top and bottom. Unlike how Athena and Nisha had kept their room extremely empty and utilitarian these two had decorated.

Surrounding the top bunk was expensive jewelry and articles of clothing, some draping down far enough to nearly cover the bottom bunk from view. The mattress had been blatantly replaced with something nicer, nearly twice as thick and a thousand times more comfy than the standard issue in Athena’s room. Plush, soft pillows covered it as well. Pictures of gorgeous places Athena assumed Aurelia owned were taped up. Nearly covered was a picture of what looked like a young, preteen Aurelia and some boy who looked rather irritated to be held in a headlock by her.

Not Jack’s bunk underneath was far more humble, although it appeared Aurelia had done him the favor of replacing his mattress as well. Possibly, or rather probably, because she didn’t want to look at something as ugly and stained as the original mattresses. The way Aurelia’s clothes draped over the top bunk’s edges made it nearly like a cave but Athena had a feeling Not Jack was enjoying that as a bit of privacy. Pictures of cute animals were taped to the wall. Unbeknownst to Athena they were a favor from Janey after Not Jack had helped her move some heavy machinery around her Emporium.

He was sitting on said bottom bunk, thousand yard stare only briefly interrupted to watch Athena enter with his roommate.

“What?” Athena asked, never one for tact.

“We have something we wish to discuss with you, dear. Have a seat.”

Aurelia gestured to one of the vanity seats, more things that the rich woman had clearly bought to fill the room with. After the two women sat Athena asked another question, “What’re we talking about?”

“This whole… this whole situation,” Aurelia said, gesturing to Elpis at large, “Jack, the mission, the vault. We figured you’d be… of a similar mind. To us.”

She gestured to herself and Not Jack who just nodded complacently having returned to his empty stare into the abyss.

“Is, uh, is Not Jack okay?”

His head jerked up, nearly snarling, “Don’t fucking call me that!”

Athena recoiled a bit in shock having never hearing Not Jack ever get irritated before, let alone pissed.

He immediately apologized, “S-sorry… Just… don’t call me that.”

Before Athena could ask what she should, Aurelia interjected, “I’m sure she doesn’t mind, Timothy. You’re stressed, she’s stressed, I’M stressed. We’re all in the same boat.”

Timothy. Athena quickly repeated it back, determined to remember it, “So… Timothy… do you… want us to call you that all the time?”

He shook his head, still looking at the ground, “Not around Jack. I’m not… supposed to go by my real name anymore. But… if it’s just us please call me by my real name. I’m not Jack. I’m Timothy Lawrence.”

“Okay, so, why are we doing this weird secret meeting thing then?”

Aurelia sighed deeply before speaking, “We want out. As soon as possible.”

“You’re leaving?” Athena said, eyes wide, “But the Vault-”

“We… we don’t want Jack to find the Vault. Or if he does, we want him not survive much longer after it. We’re sticking around for now, of course, a certain ‘Zarpedon’ needs to be dealt with. But after that we’re leaving,” Aurelia explained.

“You want me to come with you, I assume.”

“If you want,” Aurelia offered, “I don’t know your plans after your contract is up. I feel Jack’s going to offer you, and all of us, another one. I’m sure he has other plans after this or he doesn’t, he will.”

“What about him?” Athena asked, nodding at Timothy, “Don’t think his contract’s up anytime soon. Or ever.”

“Timothy is leaving. Contract or not. I’d rather a part of the contract not be attached to his face, that will make smuggling him out and keeping him hidden difficult. I offered to pay for surgery to fix it but… well…”

“It’s permanent,” Timothy finished, voice cracking a little, “I talked to Nurse Nina about it. If I try to operate on it it’s set to release neurotoxins. It won’t kill me but it’d be constant, unending pain and probably facial paralysis.”

“Shit,” Athena muttered, “Timothy…”

He continued as if she hadn’t spoken, bringing his legs up against his chest, “I never signed those papers either. Jack told me it was reversible, he told me I’d agreed to it just couldn’t remember because of the anaesthesia. I didn’t.”

Athena wasn’t someone who knew how to comfort so she switched back to the topic at hand, “I… I don’t know what I’m doing after this contract is up. I know I’m staying on until the end though, I have to. The payout will cover my cost of living for a long, long time and I’m not someone who breaks contracts.”

“You killed the entirety of the last company you worked for, darling.”

“Didn’t break any contracts doing it.”

Aurelia doubted that, “Well… keep it in mind. An option, at least. I have the means to get you out of here, all you need to do is ask.”

“Never took you for someone who’s into charity work,” Athena replied.

“Oh, no, you misunderstand me,” Aurelia laughed, “Nobody’s getting a free ride here. I just have plenty of work opportunities. I own a planet, dear. The whole planet. There’s so much to-do about that.

“That makes a lot more sense,” she conceded, nodding as she left, “I’ll… I’ll think about it. But...”

“But? Not a proper way to end a sentence, is it?”

Athena was quiet for a moment while Aurelia scrutinized her, “W-what about…”

Even though the edge had been taken off the bet Aurelia still looked at Timothy with a look of smug victory, “Nisha?”

Athena nodded, staring at the ground and oblivious to the bragging look Aurelia was giving Timothy. He just rolled his eyes at her.

“Well…” Aurelia said, switching gears back to serious, “If you two are… involved… and you think she’d be willing to come she’s more than welcome to.”

Nodding slightly, Athena looked up with one of her very, very rare smiles, “Thanks, Aurelia.”

“You’re welcome, dear,” she sang in response, standing up to usher Athena out of their room, “Tell me if anything changes. If not, I’m sure you’ll be happy as one of my bodyguards.”

As the door slammed behind Athena, Aurelia turned around with a smarmy smile, “Well, Timothy, do you want to give me my money back now or do you still want to wait it out?”

“Not over yet, Aurelia,” Timothy replied, mustering up the energy to smirk back, “Nisha might not get on that shuttle with us.

“Ohhhhhh! Cheeky!” Aurelia replied, laughing as she tossed a pillow at him, “We’ll see though, to the victor go the spoils.”

\---

Back in her own room, Athena didn’t have long to think about how she was going to try and get Nisha on board with leaving.

Her stomach turned as she remembered the look Nisha’d given Jack. Frankly, she’d feel better the further and faster she got those two apart. But she could tell one thing- Jack was only getting started and Nisha’d love the crazy shit she’d get to do under his continued employment.

Before she could further contemplate this, the door slammed open and shut.

Uneven, sauntering footsteps announced Nisha’s return from drinking with Wilhelm.

Athena grunted as Nisha swung a leg over her, sitting on her stomach, “Mmm, Athena you shoulda come with us. Lots of fun.”

“You’re drunk.”

“Tipsy. I’m still a good eighty to ninety percent there.”

“We need to talk.”

“I don’t wanna,” Nisha complained, “No more talking. We’re always talking.”

That flipped a bit of a switch in Athena, making her glare up at the cowgirl, “What? Had enough of me? You gonna go chasing after Jack now?”

“Ohhh, someone’s jealous,” Nisha sang as she relished that thought, “Don’t worry, darlin’. I’m a lot of bad things but I ain’t a cheater.”

Athena didn’t look terribly placated by that, “Well then, I have to-”

“No talking.”

“Why the hell… not…”

Athena’s sentence trailed off as Nisha started pulling off her top. Still braless. She only smiled as she set about getting off Athena’s tank top, “I got somethin’ in mind other than talkin’ tonight.”

Mind no longer on discussing Aurelia’s deal with her, Athena tried to awkwardly help squirm out of her shirt. The logical part of her brain was screaming with alarm but right now it was being vastly overpowered by the animalistic part clawing to get out. Within second the tank top was tossed at the ground. The sports bra, a bit too tight, posed more of a problem.

Or should have.

Grabbing at the top, Athena easily ripped it in half. It was an old one anyways, who cares.

Her sudden enthusiasm made Nisha laugh, voice startled but very pleased, “There’s a good girl! Knew you had it in y-”

She wasn’t able to finish that sentence as Athena grabbed her around the waist, absolutely slamdunking her onto the thin mattress. Nisha groaned at the sudden pain before laughing again, even more riled up.

“Harder.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >writes the closest she has to a sex scene  
> >uses "slamdunk" as a verb  
> >permanently banned by the community at large from writing sex scenes


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Zarpedon falls and Jack loses his eye and his mind, Athena decides she's out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guuhuhguhguhgu we're so close to the end I can taste it. I'm glad.
> 
> This has been a rough one to write, I swear to god I'm never doing another fanfic that runs alongside canon. It's so hard to manage and so much of the game had to be skipped. I'm still pretty happy with it but I'm glad it'll be over soon.
> 
> Just one more chapter. Present day. We're finally going to the shack with Athena. I hope to have it done late tonight or tomorrow.

From her sitting position, it was easy for Athena to get up off the bed.

At last examining the room she was trapped in she started looking for something sharp. Anything.

It wasn’t hard, banging her knees against the doors to a wardrobe she managed to open it. Finding a knife jutting out dangerously from a drawer. Carefully lowering herself, Athena slipped her wrists around and set about sawing through the ropes.

Groaning in relief she flexed her finally free arms, rubbing at them. Aiming a kick at the offending pieces of rope that had fallen at her feet.

Frankly, almost nothing had felt better in her entire life.

But getting the ropes off was only part one of this situation. God did she wish she’d thought to bring Aurelia and Timothy with her. Peeking out the window, there was still a riot going through the streets of the dusty town.

Plenty of enemies, no guns in sight in her makeshift prison.

Athena could probably rip the shotgun out of a bandit’s hand and get going once she was out there. Wouldn’t be the first time she’d gone into a battlefield unarmed and hopefully won’t be the last.

Pressing herself against the door Athena got ready to make a break for it. Ignoring the burning in her wrists, where the rope had cut deeply into her skin. Focusing only on the mission.

\----------

Nisha had fallen asleep immediately after the deed, dark bruises already blossoming across her skin. A smile on her face said she didn’t mind, more than didn’t mind.

Staring down at her sleeping girlfriend, Athena knew she had to talk to her. Sooner, rather than later. About Aurelia’s plans, about leaving. Something in her gut felt like it wasn’t going to go over well.

Right now she just wanted to enjoy this. A solitary moment in her life to commit to her memory. Her first night spent with another woman, hopefully not the last. Both in general and with Nisha as well.

The air seemed so calm, cut only by the slowly, steady breaths from the sleeping cowgirl.

She looked so peaceful. It was odd for Athena, getting to examine Nisha’s unguarded face as she slept. Even though they’d fallen asleep together multiple times, she’d always made sure to have Athena be the first to fall asleep.

The invisible knife twisted in her gut again as Athena realized that for Nisha this must be a major show of trust.

She had to tell her.

But that was a problem for another day.

Unfortunately, they day was soon.

For just a week, they got to pretend it was normal.

The morning after was deceptively great, almost making Athena feel like things were going to be okay. Nisha teased her excitedly over bacon and eggs, making lewd remarks and snarky compliments. There was a brightness to her eyes that Athena hadn’t seen before. Deep down she loved it even though it frightened her.

It was weird in some ways though. The others knew immediately, behind closed doors Aurelia was handed an obscene amount of money. Athena… didn’t know what to do with this. But she wanted to talk to Nisha about leaving as soon as possible.

Only one thing was sure to Athena: she was leaving the second Elpis was no longer in any danger.

\---

A gun to the head and a single word.

Bored.

As Jack put Zarpedon down like a sick dog Athena felt her stomach lurch.

Quick glances at Aurelia and Timothy confirmed to Athena she wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with this turn of events.

Predictably, Nisha and Wilhelm didn’t mind. Following blindly after Jack, they left the other three alone with the Colonel’s corpse. Athena staring at it, examining the woman’s unusual corpse. Empty eyes, scarred purple, stared back at her.

Aurelia stepped forward, leaning in to speak quietly to Athena, “Remember what I offered, my dear. I have it all prepared. At a moment’s notice we can be out of here. Have you spoken to Nisha yet?”

“No.”

“Are you…”

“I’m… I’m coming. One way or another. I’ll talk to her tonight. After we shut down that laser.”

Pain was evident in her voice, prompting Timothy to put a hand on her shoulder, “You okay?”

“Not really. I’ll catch up with you guys. Go with Jack and them.”

Nodding, the other two left. Looking down at Zarpedon’s corpse, Athena decided to give the woman at least a little dignity in death. It wasn’t like she could bury her or anything but at least make her presentable.

It was easy for Athena to center the body on the platform. Clicking off the dogtags around Zarpedon’s neck, Athena entangled them with her fingers as she intertwined them on her chest. Gently, she closed those unnatural purple eyes.

Stepping back, Athena admired her handiwork. It was nothing fancy but Zarpedon looked almost peaceful. Except for the giant hole Jack had blasted in her head.

Nothing Athena could do about that though.

Giving Zarpedon a curt military salute, she turned around to go and find the rest of her group.

\---

Staring up at the giant eye it stared back.

Nisha laughed as Athena gripped her tightly around the waist, keeping her from getting pulled in by the eye’s pull. God if that’s what’s inside a vault… Jack can fucking have it. Let the idiot kill himself.

As Moxxi led them through the process, Athena got increasingly wary. Something… something was wrong. She felt manipulated but whatever Moxxi’s plans were they had the same goal. Keep the planet from being destroyed. In some dark way she trusted Moxxi more than she trusted Jack, even as she felt imminent betrayal coming off the bartender in waves.

Seeing the eye explode in the distance, nearly sucking them into space, only confirmed what she’d already been thinking.

As Jack ranted and raved, Athena knew what she had to do.

It was time to leave.

\---

Nisha didn’t think so.

The cowgirl was in a tizzy by the time they got back to their bunk.

“Woo doggy, today was a fun one, right Athena?” Nisha started, not waiting for Athena to answer, “I haven’t gotten to do so much cool shit in one day in just… forever! Killin’ Zarpedon, blastin’ that eye, now we’re gettin’ to plottin’ against those traitors. Fuckin’ hell it’s like this day was made for me!”

Excitedly she mimed shooting at targets, making little gunshot noises with her mouth.

Even now, as Athena quietly started packing her bags, she didn’t know how to approach this.

She’d kind of hoped that Nisha would see her packing her few belongings and ask but the cowgirl was busy prattling on about all the little details of today that had her so excited. She just… kept going.

Not that some of it wasn’t flattering, as Nisha continued, “And man, that one Dahl soldier- you fuckin’ exploded his head! With a shield! The best offense is a good defense, right? Sexy as hell, take yer shirt off.”

At that abrupt change of tone she shoved Athena onto the bed and stradded her thighs. Smiling, Nisha started to do it herself. But before her bony hands could start pulling up Athena’s maybe slightly too tight tank top she stopped her.

Looking down confused at the strong hand holding hers back she looked down at Athena, “What gives? Don’t wanna play with me?”

“Nisha… we have to talk about something.”

Leaning back, Nisha crossed her arms smugly, “Yer gettin’ worried because we’re nearly at the end of all this, ain’t’cha? Think all’a this is gonna end?”

She gestured to the compromising position she had the gladiator pinned down in.

“Yes… yes and no...”

“Well, I’m more than amenable to keeping this arrangement going. I like you. You’re fun. Besides, nothin’s better than a day of violence paired with a night of fun. Have yer cake and eat it too. Eat some other things too. And I think we’ll have one hell of a lot more days of violence workin’ with Ja-”

“I’m leaving.”

“Wh-what?”

It was the only time Athena had ever heard Nisha stutter or really show any direct sign of uncertainty. She figured she better at least make an attempt to be comforting, “I want you to come with me. Aurelia already has a shuttle ready. Timothy’s coming too.”

“What’re you talkin’ abo- who the fuck is Timothy?”

Athena waved a hand, pushing herself up and pulling Nisha closer, “Timothy is Not Jack. That’s… that’s besides the point. Real Jack is dangerous and we… we want out.”

Nisha looked around, still bamboozled by this sudden turn of events. It was jarring, having gone from one of the funnest days of her life to this. She finally spoke though, “What if I don’t wanna go?”

The firm grip on her waist was nearly painful but not in the fun way, “Nisha. I’m going. One way or another. I don’t want to be a part of this any more han I already have. Zarpedon is dead, the laser is dead, Elpis is alive and well. My job is done.”

“What about the vault?” Nisha asked, looking for any excuse, “We ain’t been in it yet!”

“And I… I don’t really want Jack to ever see the Vault. Without most of his Vault Hunters he never will. I’d rather things be that way.”

“But we’re supposed to-”

“Nisha, I’m going. End of story.”

Claws dug into Athena’s arms as Nisha tried to come up with anything she could possibly say to get Athena to stay. Her grip found no purchase though. She was smart enough to know nothing in this situation was what Athena wanted. Except maybe…

Narrowing her eyes, Nisha forced herself to put aside her shock and try to tap into her usual charm. It was wavering but still there as she spoke, “C’mon, Athena. You don’t really want that. You really can’t tell me you didn’t like anything about today. I know you love combat and you do too, no matter how you try to hide it. You’re just like me.”

Shaking her head, Athena stood up. A tight grip on Nisha kept her from falling painfully on the ground, holding her up until she was standing.

“I’m… I’m not like you Nisha. I won’t... I can’t pretend that I don’t love the thrill of combat but this… this isn’t that anymore. This is slaughter. This is senseless violence. I want a purpose. Not to be a weapon for some fat cat higher ups. Not again. I… I left Atlas so I wouldn’t be a pawn. Not just because of my sister. This is… this is the same thing now. I have to go.”

Nails trembling as they continued to dig into Athena’s arms, Nisha replied, “It ain’t like that. We’ll have a lot of fun, I promise. Iffin you want you won’t even have to talk to Jack. I can… I can just be the messenger. I don’t think he’ll mind. It’ll just be you and me, havin’ the time of our lives.”

Yellow eyes nearly quivering down at her Athena could nearly feel herself buckle.

But unfortunately for Nisha, she was stronger than that.

Pulling away, Athena made for the door. Stopping only to pick up her bag on the way out.

Facing away, hiding a face full of pain, Athena spoke.

“Goodbye, Nisha.”

The heavy metal door slammed behind her. She could hear Nisha throwing a temper tantrum through it, having been freed by this near solitude.

As if on cue, Aurelia and Timothy stepped out as well. It was the first time Athena had ever seen Tim out of his Jack get up. He looked small and frightened, drowning in a massive hoodie to help cover his face.

Between them were far too many bags. Wordlessly, Athena grabbed a couple from Timothy. He seemed relieved at having his load lightened as it didn’t see like Aurelia was going to be helping with anything other than the rolling suitcase behind her.

Aurelia and Timothy exchanged glances with each other, then at the alone Athena.

The banging and screaming coming from the other room was telling as well.

Still Aurelia cautiously decided to ask.

“Is she…”

“No.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athena breaks out of the makeshift prison.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I POSTED TWO CHAPTERS TODAY, MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE PREVIOUS TO SEE IF YOU ALREADY READ IT
> 
> Sorry, just want to make sure no one skips a chapter 'cause it would be super confusing as to how we got here. Especially considering the time jump.
> 
> But holy shit this is finally done. This is the longest a fic has ever taken me to complete, just exactly over a year. In large because it's a canon-conforming fic that required rereading a lot of mission transcriptions. If I ever do a canon-conforming fic again just kill me, it's a shitload of work and extremely annoying.
> 
> I'll definitely do more Athena/Nisha in the future. Right now I'm debating picking up a third longfic again or just alternating my Zerhys fic and my Overwatch Junker D.va fic until they're both done. Maybe I'll just do some one-shots for a bit. Dunno.
> 
> I'm just so excited to finally have this one done. Hope you liked it!! <3

Athena hadn’t seen Nisha since that day.

Nisha’d stayed in Jack’s employ. It was always a bit ambiguous whether they were together or not.

Disgust. Athena really didn’t like thinking about it. Pretty easy to avoid information about Nisha though. Despite his boasting nature, Jack was very surprisingly not someone to kiss and tell.

Even now, pressed against the shack door in Lynchwood, Athena was trying not to think about it.

Not that it mattered anymore.

Handsome Jack was dead.

It had been a bit of a saving grace for Nisha that if she’d been Jack’s girlfriend he didn’t talk about her too much. Because of that it’d taken a while for bandits to come a-knocking, wanting to rid Pandora of one of Jack’s last remaining cohorts. But they’d come. Eventually. Lynchwood had been a hot target this week in particular. Small waves at first but getting larger and larger.

Until this final wave.

With a surprising amount of coordination, several bandit camps decided to work together to take over the town.

No more of Jack’s people alive, they get a new house. Win-win.

Athena should have brought the others but she didn’t want to bring anyone else on her borderline suicide mission.

A glistening object caught her eye. Surrounded by other personal affects the sheriff’s badge shone dully. Scuffed and worn. Showing the wear and tear its owner had dealt with the past few months.

With renewed strength Athena shoulder slammed the door open, immediately knocking over an unsuspecting Bruiser. Ripping the shotgun out of his hands she put him out of his misery. Looking across the way she saw where she’d watched them store her gear.

She thought it was a stretch but she could do it.

Turns out the bandits stood no chance.

She demolished them with ease, blood and brains splattering as the cheap Jakobs shotgun ripped apart their skulls. Bulky. Brutal. Beautiful.

Kicking open the door she saw her shield, glistening in the harsh Pandoran sun. Next to it, the vintage Hyperion shotgun she’d been using ever since her time on the space station. Dependable. Scooping them up she was ready to take on the angry mob.

A much more intimidating task than one alleyway. The only reason she hadn’t been killed by them was that she’s arrived before them and they didn’t know she was here. Taken in by Nisha’s own men and tossed into the nearest building for the woman to deal with later. Forgotten.

But now she was going to make them remember.

It wasn’t hard to guess where Nisha is. Just had to take one look down the street to see that she and her posse had been chased into a dead end building, built into the cliffside.

Hundreds of bandits lined the street, trampling each other to get a piece of the sheriff.

Rumor has it the bounty on her head was enough to live on for the rest of your life.

Their distraction was Athena’s gain. It wasn’t pretty. Blood flew wildly, both theirs and her own. Shields shattering, shotguns scattering, empty shells clattering.

Chaos was her friend. Too many people, too much screaming. No one could tell what it was going on until it was over.

It seemed like hours but it was much less. Under one, just a bit.

As it ended Athena surveyed her work.

Blood, guts and brains were everywhere. Corpses splayed open for the world to see. A sole woman standing in the opening, bruised, bloodied and panting.

Athena stayed like that for a second. Staring at the wooden door, all that was separating her from Nisha.

If she was still alive.

Finally, slowly, Athena stepped towards it.

Throwing the deputy’s corpse to the side she freed the door.

Turning the doorknob, Athena braced herself for the worst.

A sickly thin body hit her like a sack of bricks, slamming her onto the ground. Nisha kneeled over Athena, a makeshift knife cutting into her own hand. Blood dripping down onto Athena as the woman screamed bloody murder, crude weapon raised to stab into her.

Pause. Realization. Nisha’s eyes focused quick enough, despite the sleep deprivation, to realize she knew the person whose stomach she was sitting on.

Dazed and confused, Nisha slowly lowered the makeshift weapon. Looking around.

Two days ago this entire place had been crammed full of bandits calling for her blood. Now they were little more than smears on the dirt road.

Panting herself, nearly dehydrated, Nisha sputtered out, “A-Athena?”

Not having a good answer to that Athena just nodded.

Slowly it dawned on Nisha that not only that, yes, this is Athena she’s sitting on but said Athena must have come here. For her. The corpses surrounding them were all the gladiator’s handiwork.

She managed another sentence, “Why?”

“You were going to die,” Athena managed to say with utter placidity as she pushed herself out of the dirt, “I came here to get you. You told me you wouldn’t come with me before but you’re going to come with me now. Whether you like it or not.”

Nisha desperately wanted to fight this, even knowing Athena was her savior, but she wasn’t strong enough. Not right now. The past few months’ sieges had taken their toll on her. Not enough food, not enough water, not enough sleep.

 

Giving up, Nisha collapsed against Athena’s chest as she maneuvered to pick her up.

Athena’s wrists burned as she did, thick coils of marred flesh still screaming from the ropes that had burned into them.

“Where are… where are going?” Nisha asked, clinging to the gladiator.

“I don’t know. Aurelia wants to take us off-planet but Helios is still in the sky and still ready to destroy any shuttles taking off. Right now… I don’t know.”

“Great… great plan...” Nisha gasped, snarky despite the poor condition she was in.

“You’re welcome, by the way. For saving you.”

A worrisomely weak hand, still bleeding from the makeshift knife, pulled Athena’s head down into a kiss.

“Gotta… gotta make it up to you somehow…” Nisha groaned, “I missed… I missed you… Regretted my decision to stay with Jack pretty damn quick. Shoulda… shoulda come with you. Could have lived in Sanctuary with everyone and gotten to kill as maaaany bandits as I wanted. Burned that bridge pretty hard.”

“Yeah, yeah you did. You strangled a fucking puppy, Nisha.”

She only laughed at that, wicked smile plastered across her face. For a second, Athena wondered why her taste in women was so bad. But as Nisha’s head lolled, rolling around as the cowgirl nearly lost consciousness she knew she had other things to worry about.

“Save your energy,” Athena warned, walking towards the train station, “I’ve got some food and water but we’re going to have to find a town for more. Hope you like wearing disguises.”

Nisha only laughed, trying to pull Athena into another kiss, “Gonna rock your world…”

“Down girl,” Athena commanded, “Seriously. We have to fix you up first. Especially since you just cut your hand. Thanks for bleeding on me by the way.”

“Fuck it, you know it’s sexy. Besides, I was outta ammo. Had to protect myself somehow. Or at least thought I did. Didn’t know I had a knight in shinin’ armor coming for me.”

A harsh cough racked Nisha’s body, her dry throat wreaking havoc as she tried to speak through the dusty air.

“Nisha, seriously, stop,” Athena said, “Worry about all that later. We’ve got all the time in the world now.”

At that Nisha seemed to relax, letting her head rest on Athena’s shoulder and allowing herself one last quip, “Hey, can’t help but notice those marks on your wrist. You down for a little ropeplay when they’re better? Maybe before they’re better? Pretty disappointed I didn’t get to see you all tied up.”

Athena’s turn to quietly chuckle to herself. Even in this state Nisha was bargaining for more. But it was a bit much for now. In a few seconds Nisha was out like a light, lightly snoring on Athena’s shoulder.

Maybe Athena was starting to be a little too okay with so many of her stories starting with pretty women tying her up.

**Author's Note:**

> also check out my stuff on my tumblr, [catisacat](http://www.catisacat.tumblr.com/), i put extra writing stuff and art on there \o/


End file.
